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■ 1 



RESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF LONDON 

BY 

RICHARD RUSH, 

MINISTER FROM THE UNITED STATES FROM 1817 TO 1825. 

THIRD EDITION, 
EDITED, WITH OCCASIONAL NOTES, BY HIS SON, 

BENJAMIN EUSH, 

SECRETARY OF THE LEGATION OP THE UNITED STATES AT LONDON, 
FROM 1837 lO 1841. 

ALSO, 

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS PHILLIPPE 

AND 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848, 

By the same Author, 

MINISTER FROM THE UNITED STATES AT PARIS FROM 18-17 TO 1849. 

Now first published in Europe. 

- 



V 



WITH AN ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



LONDON": HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO., PATERNOSTEE ROW. 

PARIS : A. W. GALIGNANI & CO., 224, RUE DE RIVOLI. 

PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1872. 



[All Rights resGrypd.] 



El 374- 



Entered, according to Act of Congress in the year 1872, by 

J. B. LlPPINCOTT AXD CO., 

at the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



TO 



CHARLES FEANCIS ADAMS, Esq., 

LATE MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES AT THE 
COURT OF LONDON. 



Dear Mr. Adams, 

The Author of this Work was recalled 
from England in 1825, by your distinguished 
Father, then President of The United States, 
to the post of Secretary of the Treasury, in 
his Cabinet. If, while Minister to England, 
he had learned to appreciate the political wis- 
dom and rare statesmanship of Mr. Secretary 
Adams, from whom, under President Monroe, 
he derived his comprehensive and able instruc- 
tions, I well remember how that appreciation 
was subsequently heightened at Washington, 
during his four years of public service in the 
Administration of President Adams. It was 
then that the opportunities of almost daily 

a 2 



iv DEDICATION. 

confidential intercourse enabled him tho- 
roughly to estimate the private, as well as 
public, virtues, the purity of character, as 
well as elevated patriotism, of one, whose un- 
ostentatious life, and unselfish public aims, I 
have often heard him say, were a model for 
his successors, as for all public men, and an 
example to the youth of America. 

When, at the expiration of his constitutional 
term, the name of President Adams was spon- 
taneously submitted to the American People, 
for re-election to the great office which his 
talents and services adorned, that of his Se- 
cretary of the Treasury was submitted with 
it as the Candidate for Vice-President of 
the United States, and at the ensuing elec- - 
tion each received the same number of elec- 
toral votes. Their names, thus connected 
together in the performance of public duties, 
and by manifestations of public confidence, 
were further and more closely united by a 
friendship which continued through life. 

Prompted by these recollections and asso- 
ciations, may I now, without your knowledge. 



DEDICATION. V 

dedicate to you the re-publication of a Work, 
the greater part of which purports to record 
some of the public and personal incidents, 
more than half a century ago, of the Mission 
which you so long and so recently occu- 
pied, in the third generation ; discharging 
its duties, at an unexampled national crisis, 
with the highest advantage to your country, 
and in a manner to leave behind you durable 
and most favourable impressions, as so many 
of your countrymen know who have since 
visited England. 

I remain, 

Dear Mr. Adams, 

Very truly your friend, 
BENJAMIN RUSH. 

Bucklant/s Hotel, 

Brook Street, London, 
Vdtli May, 1872. 






PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION, 



The Author's " Residence at the Court of 
London," now long out of print, has been 
so often called for of late, and the opinion 
expressed that its republication at this time 
might do good, that it has been at length 
determined to issue a new Edition in London, 
where (and in Philadelphia, the Author's- 
home) it first appeared in 1833. Both there, 
and in Philadelphia, it immediately went 
through two Editions. A second series of 
the work appeared, in 1845, in Philadelphia 
and London, and was equally well received 
by the British and American Public. 

It is now nearly forty years since the first 
publication, and more than a quarter of a 
century since the second ; but it is more than 
half a century since the date of the events 
which the Author narrates in this volume, 
beginning with his first arrival in England 
as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
potentiary from the United States in 1817. 

In that long period of time, more than one 
generation of men has passed away ; and 
immense have been the changes in both 



Vlll PREFACE TO 

countries, political, moral, material, and of 
every description. Whether these changes 
have been always in the right direction, time 
will determine. But principles remain. These 
never change, any more than the rules of uni- 
versal justice and good intercourse between 
Nations and their representatives. If, so soon 
after the short but fierce contest between the 
United States and England in 1812, happily 
the last (it is earnestly hoped to be the last), 
the representatives of the two countries proved 
themselves equal to the task of arranging 
satisfactorily unsettled questions, and laying 
the foundations of harmony, in the spirit 
which this volume records, may it not be 
hoped that a similar spirit will prevail in the 
Councils of each of these great Nations, in the 
adjustment of existing, and all future questions, 
after an unbroken Peace of more than fifty 
years ! Surely the statesmen, the philanthro- 
pists, and all the people, of both countries, 
must respond to the hope. Most especially 
must they respond to it at a moment when the 
accumulated horrors of War have just deso- 
lated the fairest portions of Europe ; and when 
the conviction forces itself upon the mind that 
these might have been avoided, by the cultiva- 
tion of the same enlightened principles of 
public policy, and the same liberal and just 
sentiments on the part of rulers and people, 
which have so long preserved friendship, and 



THIRD EDITION. IX 

prevented collision, between the young, aspir- 
ing and spirited (and now mighty) Republic 
of the Western World, soon to celebrate the 
first century of its existence, and the proud 
old Constitutional Monarchy of England. 

" President Jackson," says the Author, 
" had always a sincere desire to be at peace 
" with England;" and the latter goes on to 
cite, in confirmation, a remarkable passage 
from his Annual Message to Congress in 1832. 
The " London Quarterly Review," eleven years 
afterwards, alluding to President Jackson's 
" anxious desire and laudable ambition " to 
settle the N.E. Boundary dispute by accept- 
ing the award of the King of Holland, although 
the Senate was against it, said : — 

As Gen. Jackson " had in former clays gal- 
" lantly defeated us in the field, he w r as stronger 
" in public opinion than any other statesman 
" would have been for doing us justice in the 
" Cabinet." All this will be found in the 
" Introductory Remarks " to the 2nd Series 
of this Work. 

In this connection a striking remark is 
elsewhere referred to by the Author, as made 
by the immediate predecessor of the late 
Earl of Clarendon, with whom he was in 
the most agreeable relations, viz., "that three 
" men, renowned for success in War, Washing- 
" ton, Jackson, and the Duke [of Wellington], 
" had each inculcated upon their respective 



PREFACE TO 



"nations the maxims of Peace; and each, 
" within his sphere, endeavoured to maintain 
"it!" 

It would be unseemly in the writer to refer 
to the many spontaneous favourable opinions 
of the Work now republished, expressed to 
him, from time to time, by enlightened English- 
men, during a year passed recently in England, 
and while travelling since on the Continent. 
Often they have been expressed under circum- 
stances, and in a manner, in a high degree 
gratifying to filial ears. 

Of two things the Author's descendants have 
a right to feel proud. Never, that they are 
aware, have any of his statements been called 
in question ; and with all his appreciation of 
England, her solid glory, the durable founda- 
tions of her greatness, and her historic renown, 
together with his high estimate of her people, 
amongst whom he lived so long, and mixed so 
largely, never, for one moment, did he fail in 
his superior duty to the land of his birth and 
allegiance. Love and pride of Country, though 
never improperly obtruded, were always upper- 
most ; and it was precisely because he was 
known to be animated at all times by "so truly 
" an American spirit," as was once said of him 
by one of the great names of England, that the 
high-spirited English themselves respected him 
the more. If, in the end, he was able to 
serve his Country more effectually, by aiming, 



TIIIKD EDITION. XI 



throughout the seven years and a half of his 
Mission, to render himself personally acceptable 
to the Government and People of the great 
Nation to which he was accredited, he showed 
that he at least understood, and endeavoured 
to practise, one of the first and highest duties 
of a Foreign Minister. 

To the descendants and connections of those 

j whose names are thickly scattered through 
these pages, many of them among the greatest 
and most celebrated of England, the retrospect 
here afforded may not be without interest now, 
at the end of more than half a century. To 
facilitate this retrospect, and assist readers 
generalty, an alphabetical Index has been, 

i for the first time, subjoined to this Edition. 



BENJAMIN RUSH, 



Hotel Costanzi, Rome, 
Maech 1871, 



ADDENDUM TO PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 



The foregoing was prepared at its date with a 
view to the republication of the Author's 
" Residence at the Court of London/' more 
than a year ago. It having been subsequently 
determined to defer the publication till the 
return of the writer through England to the 
United States, the foregoing has been laid 
aside till now. 

Shortly after its date, a great advance was 
made by the Treaty of Washington towards 
the removal of all causes of disagreement be- 
tween the two Countries, and a basis laid, by 
the patriotic and enlightened co-operation of 
the able statesmen, on both sides, who nego- 
tiated that Treaty, for a permanent good under- 
standing, and the most friendly relations, be- 
tween England and the United States. It 
would seem to be impossible, judging from the 
almost universal feeling of all classes in both 
countries, that any final obstacle should inter- 
fere to prevent the consummation of that Treaty. 
It would be a lasting disgrace to the spirit of 
the age— the terms are not too strong— shouldi. 
the auspicious initial settlement at Washington 



ADDENDUM TO PREFACE. x [\{ 

be defeated by trivial causes, as it draws to a 
dose at Geneva. 

Great, indeed, would be the responsibility to 
both Countries, and to the World, of the men 
instrumental in such result, if such be possible ; 
for are not the reasonable hopes of the World 
involved in the establishment of the great prin- 
ciple of Arbitration, provided for in that Instru- 
ment, for the settlement of international differ- 
ences ? It is not too much to say that such 
result would be a shock to the deliberate 
judgment, as w r ell as enlightened and most 
earnest wishes, of nearly all the calm-minded 
and reflecting men both in America and 
England. 

Profuse and earnest have long been, and 
still are, the constantly-recurring evidences of 
mutual good -will between these two great 
Nations. Let a very few be recalled. 

The Heir-Apparent to the British Throne is 
prostrated by an illness which carries conster- 
nation throughout the British dominions, and 
his life hangs by a thread. The American 
press re-echoes the wide-spread sympathy of 
the American People, and Prayers are offered 
up for his recovery in a great many of the 
Churches of the United States. 

The Queen of England proceeds in solemn 

and gorgeous procession, in the Capital of her 

ominions, to offer up in the most splendid 

Protestant Cathedral in Europe, her humble 



ADDENDUM TO PREFACE. 



and heartfelt thanks for his restoration to 
health. More than a million of her subjects, it 
is estimated, line the way. Conspicuous along 
the route, writes an eye-witness, appear " the 
" American and English Flags, side by side." 

On the 22nd of February last, the British 
Flag is displayed from British ships in Ameri- 
can ports, in commemoration, and in honour, 
of Washington's Birthday. 

An insane attempt is made, more recently, 
by a half-witted English or Irish boy in London, 
to alarm the Queen by pointing a pistol at her, 
at first thought to be loaded. The news is 
flashed across the Atlantic, and the next morn- 
ing the American papers are filled w 7 ith con- 
gratulations on the safety of the Queen. "An 
" universal feeling of pleasure at Her Majesty's 
" escape/' says one, with an immense circula- 
tion, "will re-echo throughout the civilized 
" world." 

It is scarcely a month since the American 
Minister in London pays a visit, without any 
form or display, to the celebrated Blue-coat 
School at Christ's Hospital. Immediately the 
American Flag is run out from the top of the 
building, and a full band plays the inspiring 
national airs of the United States, in compli- 
ment to her Representative, in the heart of 
the greatest City of modern times. Cordial 
good wishes are expressed for the prosperity 
of the two countries. 



ADDENDUM TO PREFACE. XV 

A great and flourishing City of the United 
States is suddenly destroyed by a conflagration, 
The utmost sympathy is evinced throughout all 
parts of England, and immense sums of money 
pour into America as fast as steam can convey 
them, contributed for the immediate relief of 
the sufferers, by all classes of the generous 
English People — from the illustrious occu- 
pant of the Throne to the humblest of her 
subjects. 

But something else is remembered, a few 
years further back. 

The Heir to the Crown of Great Britain 
pays a visit to the United States. Approaching 
the Tomb of Washington, he stands, for some 
time, uncovered and silent. His example is 
followed by his entire suite, composed of some 
of the proudest and most illustrious names in 
English history. The incident makes a deep 
impression upon the hearts of the American 
People. ' 

Shortly afterwards the Prince of Wales is 
received at the " Academy of Music," a mag- 
nificent structure, in one of the largest and 
most beautiful Cities of The Union — the City 
of Philadelphia — scarcely inferior in size and 
decorations to the handsomest of the kind in 
Europe, where an operatic entertainment is 
given in his honour. He had been previously 
requested to select the Opera. At the moment 
pf his entrance, the entire audience, from pit to 



XVI ADDENDUM TO PREFACE. 

dome (and there were distinguished men and 
beautiful American women there that night), 
rise to their feet to do him further honour, and 
receive him standing, a compliment never 
before paid to a Royal visitor in The United 
States, while the National Anthem of England 
resounds from a large and powerful orchestra, 
and the Royal Standard is conspicuously dis- 
played. The Prince seems unprepared for it, 
and gratified, and standing, with his distin- 
guished suite, repeatedly bows his acknow- 
ledgments. 

Little more than a year elapses, and the 
President of The United States falls by the 
hand of an assassin. The event creates a thrill 
of horror in every part of England, and pro- 
duces testimonials of heartfelt condolence with 
the American People, from the Throne down, 
from almost every city and town and village. 

In the very Treaty of Washington, England 
does not scruple to put on record an expression 
of her regret at the unfortunate occurrences, on 
her side, which caused a resort to the Treaty. 

If these be trifles, they are certainly not 
light as air. To men who reason correctly, 
they will seem far more substantial and endur- 
ing. They help to form, and in the end create, 
bonds of union between the People of these 
two great Nations — the illustrious Parent stock, 
and o;iant offspring; — stronger than links of iron 
It is impossible that such bonds can be dissolved 



ADDENDUM TO PREFACE. XVli 

by trivial causes ; above all, by other trifles, 
as nearly all reasonable men will regard them, 
in the sense that extremes meet, dim, shadowy, 
insubstantial, if such inference may be drawn 
from that which in technical, official language, 
is proclaimed to be "remote" and " indirect," 

To many Englishmen who have visited The 
United States, the words, as well as the inspiring 
air, of the Star Spangled Banner, one of the 
proudest of the national airs of The United 
States, are perhaps not unfamiliar. Composed 
in 1813 or '14, during the height of the un- 
fortunate contest of that period between the 
two Countries, by an American whose name 
has since become indelibly associated with that 
patriotic air, it is scarcely, perhaps, to be won- 
dered at that the words are not, throughout, 
the most complimentary to England. On hear- 
ing it, for the first time, years afterwards, 
an enlightened and liberal Englishman com- 
posed, and handed to the writer, the follow- 
ing two additional stanzas. They appeared 
in American newspapers long ago, were ex- 
tensively copied and highly commended, and 
were recited a few years since at a large and 
distinguished public dinner in London, amid 
great applause, but have never before been pub- 
lished in any permanent form. Perhaps they 
may now be reproduced here, not inappro- 
priately : — 

* Francis Key, Esq., of Baltimore. 

b 






XVlll ADDENDUM TO PREFACE. 

" But hush'd be that strain — they our foes are no longer, 
Lo, Britain the right hand of friendship extends. 
And Albion' s fair Isle we behold with affection, 
The land of our Fathers — the land of our Friends ! 

u Long, long may ye flourish, Columbia and Britain, 
In amity still may your children be found, 
And the Star- Spangled Banner and Ked Cross together, 
Wave free and triumphant the wide world around." 

And so will say millions of the dispassionate 
and unprejudiced, over whom those Banners 
wave, in either land, all transient causes, re- 
mote, indirect, or otherwise, to the contrary, 
notwithstanding. 

The volume closes with a Narrative, pub- 
lished now for the first time on this side of the 
Atlantic of the Author's Residence as Envoy 
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of 
The United States at the Court of Louis Phi- 
lippe, with a Glance at the French Revolution 
of 1848, and a subsequent residence in the 
same capacity at the Government of the Prince 
President. The period embraces memorable 
years in French history — 1847, 1848, and 
1849. The Narrative forms the concluding 
article of a posthumous work of the Author, 
heretofore published by his Executors only in 
Philadelphia, in 1860, the year after his death, 
entitled, " Occasional Productions, Political, 
" Diplomatic, and Miscellaneous." From the 
"Introduction" to that Work, there will be 
found at the end of this Volume, an extract 



ADDENDUM TO PREFACE. XIX 

from the Proceedings of the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, under date of the 8th of 
August, 1859, embodying a short biographical 
memoir of the Author, by one of the Vice- 
Presidents. 

Should the present publication be received 
with favour, a new edition of that Work may 
possibly be issued here, as well as a new edition 
of the Second Series of the Author's " Resi- 
*' dence at the Court of London," originally 
published in America and England in 1845. 

" In man}' instances," says the Author in his 
remarks " To the Reader," at the commence- 
ment of his " Residence at the Court of 
" London," under date of April, 1833, " I 
" have been happy to render acknowledg- 
" ments for the kindest hospitalities received 
" in England. Should the work be continued, 
" this list would be much enlarged by names 
" not hitherto reached." And this would be 
found to be the case in the Second Series* 



B. R 



Buckland's Hotel, 

Brook Street, London. 
May, 1872. 



TO THE READER 



When I first took the pen to prepare the fol- 
lowing sheets for the press, it was with the 
intention of going through the full term of my 
mission ; but finding them run on to their pre- 
sent number in using the materials of little 
more than a year, I have, for the present, given 
over that intention. I am the more admonished 
to this course, as negotiations with which I was 
charged at later periods, were more elaborate 
and full than any recorded in this volume. 
Miss More, in noticing Pope's precept that 
the greatest art in writing is "to blot" says 
that there is still a greater — the art to stop. 

The contents of the chapters may startle at 
first ; but I trust only at first. I am as deeply 
sensible of the impropriety of making an ill 
use of the incidents of private life, as it is pos- 
sible any one can be, and flatter myself that 
what I have said in this connexion will be clear 
of all exception. I would otherwise burn the 
( sheets. I would burn them, if I thought they 



XX11 



TO THE READER. 



contained a line or word to create a moment's 
uneasiness in any one person whose name is 
mentioned. In giving an account of conversa- 
tions other than official; I have drawn upon 
my notes sparingly ; not that I heard things 
improper, had all been told ; but that a thou- 
sand things pass in conversation, not adapted 
to print, any more than intended for it Reports 
then or narratives, given under restraints from 
which I never could be free, may be found 
meagre ; and in such cases I am the one to 
blame, desiring always to err on the side of 
abstinence, where indulgence would be cri- 
minal. Doubtless also there has often been a 
falling-ofF in my limited reports of what was 
said by others, from the better manner in which 
it was said by the persons themselves. Here, 
too, I am the one responsible. In many in- 
stances I have been happy to render acknow- 
ledgments for the kindest hospitalities received 
in England. Should the work be continued, 
this list would be much enlarged by names not 
hitherto reached. 

There are questions involved in the negotia- 
tions I have recorded, of the deepest prospective 
interest to both the United States and Great 
Britain. If I have explained these so that 
they may be rightly understood, and sent them 
into the world under a companionship that may 



TO THE READER. XX111 



add to the chances of their being at all read in 
both countries, I believe that I shall not have 
written altogether in vain. When I say in both, 
I confess that I chiefly mean Britain; for with 
all the power of intelligence and information in 
that country upon public as all subjects, I am 
satisfied that the American questions are less 
| generally inquired into than many others, and 
I less generally understood than in this country. 
I have written in the spirit of good feeling to- 
wards Britain, which may be cherished by every 
American compatibly with his superior love 
for his own country, and which I believe few 
'Americans fail to cherish who stay there as long 
|as I did. A residence of nearly eight years 
corrected many erroneous impressions I had 
'previously taken up ; as a residence of like 
time in this country by Britons almost inva- 
riably imbues them with totally different feel- 
ings and opinions respecting the United States 
from those adopted by their hasty, and too 
often uninformed and uncandid travellers who 
come among us. Enough has been written and 
said on both sides to irritate. My desire is, 
and such my effort, to soothe. President Jack- 
son, in his last annual message to Congress, 
has spoken of the value of a good understand- 
ing between two countries " cemented by a 
r 01 hmunity of language, manners, and social 

\ 



*X1T TO THE READER. 

habits, and by the high obligations we owe to 
our British ancestors for many of our most 
valuable institutions, and for that system of 
representative government which has enabled 
us to preserve and improve them!' 

In publishing negotiations which I conducted 
for my country, and other official communi- 
cations, it is proper I should say, that I violate 
no duty. It is known to be as well the prac- 
tice as the principle of the Government of the 
United States, to publish such documents for 
general information : and in fact I publish 
nothing that has not heretofore had publicity 
in this manner, though piece-meal and at de- 
tached intervals. I know of no exception, 
unless the cases of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. 
These constitute a transaction too marked to 
remain unknown in its diplomatic progress, 
the result having long been known. My more 
ample account of it all, at the time it arose, 
was transmitted to the Department of State, 
and rests in its archives. Even the European 
rule sanctions the publication of negotiations 
when no longer pending, and this is the case 
with all I present. I have only given them in 
connecting links, and under forms somewhat 
different. Often I have omitted particulars 
already published by the Government, whilst 
sometimes I have brought to light what m r 






i 



TO THE READER. XXV 



serve as new explanations. In this, as other 
parts of the work, I venture to claim for it, 
as the only title to an indulgent reception, 
essential fidelity in its contents ; repeating, 
that I am chargeable with all imperfections 
merely verbal. 

I might have thrown into separate works 
the parts official and parts personal. But I 
preferred their junction. No public man, what- 
ever the extent or magnitude of his duties, 
leads a purely official life, detached from per- 
sonal scenes and feelings interwoven with it. 
Some view of these may even serve on occasion 
to elucidate better the true movement of offi- 
cial acts, by exhibiting the latter in a broader 
connexion. I have also thought, that it might 
not be wholly unacceptable to the American 
community to know something of the personal 
reception of their Minister in England in 
virtue of the trust he bears ; not simply that 
which awaits him in the common forms when 
he first arrives, but more generally afterwards. 
The same motive will open to his countrymen 
some views, imperfect indeed and few, but still 
some views, of the social tone prevailing in 
classes amongst which his public trust neces- 
sarily, and, if his residence be protracted, 
largely, throws him. 
0Ti Brief reflections which I may now and then 



XXVI TO THE READER. 

have hazarded on the institutions and charac- 
ter of England, are of little moment. They 
will pass only for what they are worth, with 
those who may be at the trouble of reading 
them. Far from my purpose has it been to 
scan all her institutions and character (a 
mighty task !) but rather to speak cursorily of 
portions falling under my own immediate ob- 
servation in some among the many spheres of 
her society and population. Other portions 
have been abundantly described by her own 
and foreign writers ; and here, portraits unlike 
each other, may each be true to the original. 
Even an individual in whom great qualities 
meet, may often be described under different 
colours, each being just according to the point 
of sight whence he is beheld. Who then 
shall undertake to concentrate in a single 
picture, a great and mighty nation ? The 
opinions in which I feel most confidence, and 
which are most important, are those which 
refer to the wealth and power of England, and 
their steady augmentation. Those, of what- 
ever nature, in which I have indulged, have 
reference, with scarcely any exceptions, to the 
dates that belong to them. I am aware that 
great political changes have taken place since; 
but I do not, at my distance, believe that any 
essential changes will yet have been produced 






\w 



TO THE READER. XX.VL1 

by them, bearing upon the character or habits 
[of the nation. These, when the growth of 
jages, alter slowly in any country. In England, 
they will come about more slowly than in most 
(countries. 

Of current politics I have said nothing. 

ho looks for party spirit therefore in these 
pages, will not find it. They are merely in- 
tended to be historical and descriptive, if, 
in very humble ways, they may at all lay 
claim to such characteristics. It will scarcely 
be supposed that, even as far as they go, 
they embody all the scenes, social or official, 
of my mission. Of the first, there are only 
occasional notices ; and of the second, only 
such have been selected as are decidedly na- 
tional, and not all these. The whole business 
of private claims, requiring appeals to the 
British Government, I have of course passed 
by ; with a great variety of incidental duties. 
These are of constant recurrence in countries 
between which there is so large and active a 
commerce as the United States and Great 
Britain. The Consuls take charge of many of 
them in the first instance ; but the cases are 
still numerous in which they find their way to 
the Minister. 

I went to England again on a short visit 
in 1829. An interval of but four years had 



XXviii TO THE HEADER. 

elapsed ; yet I was amazed at the increase 
of London. The Regent's Park, which, when 
I first knew the west-end of the town, dis- 
closed nothing but lawns and fields, was now 
a city. You saw long rows of lofty buildings, 
in their outward aspect magnificent. On this 
whole space was set down a population of pro- 
bably not less than fifty or sixty thousand 
souls. Another city, hardly smaller, seemed 
to have sprung up in the neighbourhood of 
St. Pancras Church and the London Univer- 
sity. Belgrave Square, in an opposite region, 
broke upon me with like surprise. The road 
from Westminster Bridge to Greenwich ex- 
hibited for several miles compact ranges of 
new houses. Finchley Common, desolate in 
1819, was covered with neat cottages, and 
indeed villages. In whatever direction I 
went, indications were similar. I say nothing 
of Carlton Terrace, for Carlton House was 
gone, or of the street, of two miles, from 
that point to Park Crescent, surpassing any 
other in London, or any that I saw in Europe. 
To make room for this new and spacious 
street, old ones had been pulled down, of 
which no vestige remained. I could scarcety, 
but for the evidence of the senses, have be- 
lieved it all. The historian of the Decline 
and Fall of the Roman Empire remarks, that 



TO THE READER. XXIX 



the description, composed in the Theodosian 
age, of the many stately mansions in Rome, 
might almost excuse the exaggeration of the 
poet ; that Rome contained a multitude of 
palaces, and that each palace was equal to 
a city. Is the British metropolis advancing 
to that destiny ? Manchester, Liverpool, Bir- 
mingham, and other provincial towns that I 
visited, appeared, on their smaller scales, to 
jhave increased as much. 

In the midst of it all, nearly every news- 
paper that I opened rang the changes upon 
the distress and poverty of England. Mr. 
[Peel's bill banishing bank-notes under five 
pounds from circulation, had recently passed. 
There was great clamour — there is always 
clamour at something among this people. 
Prices had fallen — trade was said to be 
irrecoverably ruined, through the over-pro- 
duction of goods. I have since seen the state 
of things at that epoch better described per- 
haps, as the result of an under-production of 
\money. Workmen in many places were out 
[of employ ; there were said to be fourteen 
thousand of this description in Manchester. 
I saw portions of them walking along the 
streets. Most of this body had struck for 
wages. I asked how they subsisted when 
doing nothing. It was answered, that they 



XXX TO THE READEK. 

had laid up funds by joint contributions among 
themselves whilst engaged in work. In no 
part of Liverpool or its extensive environs 
did I see pauperism ; the paupers for that 
entire district being kept within the limits 
of its poor-house ; in which receptacle I was 
informed there were fifteen hundred. I passed 
through the vale of Cheshire ; I saw in that 
fertile district, in Lancashire, Staffordshire, 
Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, 
Worcestershire, appearances of wide-spread 
prosperity, in the lands, houses, canals, roads, 
public works, domestic animals, people — in 
every thing that the eye of the merely transient 
traveller took in. I stopped at Kenilworth, 
and Warwick Castle ; enchanting spots, which 
English literature has almost rendered classic. 
I had invitations to Trentham Hall, Apthorpe, 
Hagley, Ockham, Landgewin, Grange Park, 
Digswell ; from going to which I was pre- 
vented by objects confining me to the me- 
tropolis. But I seize this opportunity of 
marking my sense of the kindnesses intended 
me by the proprietors of those beautiful 'seats. 
Nor can I let it pass without comprehending 
in my grateful acknowledgments my valued 
American friends, George Marx and Joshua 
Bates, Esquires, who with their amiable fami- 
lies, kept London from being a dull place to 



TO THE READER. XXXI 

me during the autumn and part of the winter, 
by their warm-hearted hospitalities. I have to 
say the same of my friend of longer date, 
Colonel Aspinwall, Consul of the United 
States for London, then residing with his 
amiable family at Highgate. 

I cannot close these preliminary lines with- 
out the remark, that, since the volume was 
written, events have transpired in our own 
country calculated at first to give uneasiness 
to those who dearly love it. But may we 
not hope that all danger is past; and that 
the Union, which constituted and can alone 
preserve us a Nation, w r ill derive from them 
new strength and glory?* 

R. R. 

Sydenham, near Philadelphia. 
April, 1833. 



* The Author refers here to what was known in America 
as the "Nullification" dispute of 1832, arising out of the 
claim of a single State to " nullify," or set aside, an Act of 
J Congress. The dispute was soon put an end to, and the 
j question effectually settled, by the prompt energetic con- 
duct, and resolute firmness, of President Jackson. The 
opinion prevails largely in the United States, that had Pre- 
sident Buchanan acted with like promptitude and energy, 
and similar firmness in 1861, there would have been no 
ii deplorable and prolonged Civil War in the United States. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Voyage, and arrival at the Isle of "Wight . Page 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Landing at Portsmouth, and journey to London . . 11 

CHAPTER III. 

First Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — Eirst appearances of 
Jondon . . . . . . .25 

CHAPTER IV. 

Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — Slaves carried away from 
;he United States contrary to the Treaty of Ghent. — Equalization 
)f Tonnage duties. — "West India trade.— Members of the British 
md American Cabinets . . . . .31 

CHAPTER V. 

London East of Temple-Bar. — London North of Oxford 
|j ; )treet . . . . . . .50 

CHAPTER VI. 

Dinner at Lord Castlereagh's. — Members of the Diplomatic 
| Torps. — The first visit.— Dinner at Lord "Westmoreland's . 5S 

CHAPTER VII. 

Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — Slave Question under the 
peaty of Ghent. — North-AVcstern boundary between the United 
Slates and British Possessions. — Post at the mouth of Columbia 

.72 



XXXIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE VIII. 

Keception by the Prince Eegent.— The Levee. — The Eoyal 
Family ...... Page 81 

CHAPTEE IX. 

Attempt upon the life of the Duke of "Wellington.— Old 
customs about the Court. — Dinner at the Danish Minister's. — 
Private audience of the Queen. — The Drawing-room. — Dinner at 
Lord Castlereagh's . . . . . .96 

CHAPTEE X. 

Emigration. — Literary Institutions. — Clubs. — Booksellers' 
shops. — St. James's Palace. — Party at the Duchess of Cumber- 
land's. — At the Eussian Ambassador's. — At the Marchioness of 
Stafford's. — At Lord Melville's. — The Duke of Sussex. — Dinner 
at the Mansion House ..... Ill 

CHAPTEE XI. 

Visit to Mr. "West. — Dinner at Mr. Lyttelton's. — At Lord 
Holland's. — A day at Deptford and Greenwich. — Dinner at the 
Austrian Ambassador's. — At Earl Bathurst's. — Marriage of the 
Princess Elizabeth.— Dinner at Lord Bagot's . . 132 



-o v 



CHAPTEE XH. 

Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — General negotiation pro' 
posed ou the West-India trade, Maritime questions, and Impress 
inent. — Nature of the last question. — The Slave-trade. — Offer of 
British mediation in the affairs of the United States and Spain 
— Dinner at Mr. Wilberforce's. — At the Earl of Hardwicke's.— 
Almack's. — Late hours.— Covent-Garden theatre . . 159 

CHAPTEE XIII. 

"Wager of battle. — Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — Impress- 
ment. — Course of Great Britain and the United States as betweei 
Spain and her Colonies. — Affairs between the United States anc 
Spain, — Safety of diplomatic correspondence. — The Drawing- 
room. — Birth-day dinner at Lord Castlereagh's . . 181 



CONTENTS. XXXV 



CHAPTEE XIV 



The daily press. — Annual exhibition at the Eoyal Academy. — 
Public Societies. — Dinner at the Marquis of Lansdowne's. — 
Evening entertainment at Carlton House. — Dinner at Dr. 
Pinckard's ...... Page 198 

CHAPTEE XV. 

The United States and Ionian Islands. — Affairs between the 
United States and Spain. — Monument to Burns. — British Institu- 
tion, Pall Mall. — Dinner at Mr. Canning's.— Lord Erskine 220 

CHAPTEE XVI. 

Dissolution of Parliament. — Eevenue and resources of England. 
— Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — Impressment. — The Slave- 
trade. — Commercial Convention of 1815. — Dinner at the Marquis 
of Stafford's. — Further interview with Lord Castlereagh on Im- 
pressment and the Slave-trade. — The hustings at Covent Garden. 
— Dinner at the Chancellor of the Exchequer's . . 240 

CHAPTEE XVII. 

Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — General negotiation pro- 
posed.— Commercial Convention of 1815. — European mediation 
between Spain and her Colonies — Dinner at Mr. Villiers's. — The 
Quarterly Eeview. — Interview with Lord Castlereagh. — Proposal 
for a general negotiation accepted. — Mr. Gallatin to take part in 
it. — Mr. Eobinson and Mr. Goulburn, the British negotiators. — 
Commercial Convention of 1815. — Dinner at Sir John Sinclair's. — 
—At Mr. Bentham's. — At the Erench Ambassador's. — Interview 
with Lord Castlereagh. — Course of Great Britain and the United 
States towards Spain and her Colonies. — Affair of Pensacola 270 

CHAPTEE XVIII. 

Interview "with Lord Castlereagh. — Impressment. — Cases of 
Arbuthnot and Ambristcr. — Mr. Gallatin arrives in London. — 
Preparatory Conference at North Cray, Kent, the seat of Lord 
Castlereagh, where the Negotiators dine and pass the night. — 
Appearances of the country —Opening of the negotiation: The 
points recapitulated. — Last interview with Lord Castlereagh on 
Impressment, prior to his departure for Aix-la-Chapelle . 301 



XXXVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The English in the Autumn, — Inauguration of the Lord Major: 
— Death of the Queen .... Page 321 

CHAPTER XX. 

Americans abroad. — Cases of Arbuthnot and Ambrister.— 
Opening of Parliament. — Royal Speech by Commission. — Dinner 
at Mr. "Wellesley Pole's. — Chesapeake and Shannon . 337 

APPENDIX 

Containing a Eecapitulation of the Questions arranged between 
Great Britain and the United States, by the Negotiation of 1818, 
with a Statement of those left unadjusted . . . 363 



A Glance at the Court and Government of Louis Philippe in 
1847-49, and the French Revolution of 1848 . . . 393 

The Character of Mr. Canning . . . . .560 

Biographical Sketch of the Author 573- 

Alphabetical Index ........ 581 



A RESIDENCE 



AT 



THE COURT OF LONDON 



CHAPTER I. 



On the 19th of November 1817, I em- 
barked at Annapolis, Maryland, in the 
" Franklin" seventy-four, as Envoy Extra- 
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from 
the United States to the Court of London. 
The ship was new, built at Philadelphia, and 
ordered round to Annapolis to take me and 
my family on board.* The anchors were 
weighed to the sound of music. We were 
three days in getting down the Chesapeake, 
and on the 23rd found ourselves at sea. The 
svening sun shone upon the lighthouse as we 

* It was the same " Franklin," cut down to a Steam 
Frigate, in which the late Admiral Farragut visited various 
3arts of Europe, a few years ago, and it is a coincidence 
hat Farragut was one of the midshipmen on board at this 
ime. 



^ RESIDENCE AT THE 

left the capes, which jut out towards each 
other, looking, from the ocean, like a fine 
natural gateway to the entrance of this part of 
our country. 

I will not stop to describe the minute oc- 
currences of the voyage, though a large man- 
of-war abounds with them, as they strike upon 
the observation of a person who has never 
before been to sea. The crew consisted of 
upwards of seven hundred men. The ship 
was of two thousand tons, and, although rated 
a seventy-four, mounted ninety guns. If silence 
and cleanliness be proofs of discipline, the ship's 
company was entitled to that praise. We had 
one storm, a severe one ; so it seemed to a 
landsman. As it was coming on, the sails 
were taken in, and even whilst it raged, the 
top-gallant yards sent down, and masts struck, 
with a quickness that appeared wonderful. 
" Call a hundred men aft" said the officer on 
the quarter-deck to a midshipman, when some- 
thing urgent was to be done. In a moment, a 
hundred men were there. Occasionally the 
trumpet was used ; the straining of the voice 
through which, amidst the roaring of the 
winds, had a hideous sound. 

When the storm began to abate, I had some 
conversation with Commodore Stewart. We 
were holding-on to one of the guns that had 



I 8 17. COURT OF LONDON. 3 

! been run into the cabin. " Commodore," said 
I, " this is a new scene to me; what could you 
do if we were at war and an enemy of equal 
force hove in sight?"—" Chase him" he said, 
gravely. — "What then," I replied ; " youcould 
not engage, I suppose ? for ten hours your 
ship hasbeen tempest-tost ; all your exertions 
seem to have been required to resist the 
storm." — " True/* he said, " but we could keep 
the enemy in sight." — " But certainly you 
could not fight him," I again remarked. — " We 
could not," he rejoined, "now; but we should 
watch each other, and go to it when the storm 
was over" — "What! all exhausted with the 
labour it has cost, all dismantled as your ship 
is !" — "Yes, as quick as possible," he answered, 
" there would be no time to lose ; the rigging 
must go up faster than it came down" Such 
is war. The elements cannot stop it. Their 
very raging seems akin to it. This was no 
vain boasting. The Commodore was a modest, 
unassuming man ; but faithful to his duty in 

J the battle or storm. 

An incident occurred that may be worth 

■ mentioning from its possible bearing upon the' 
theory of the currents along our coast. We 
left the capes of Chesapeake on a Sunday, 

I steering for England. On the following Fri- 

! dav, to the surprise of all on board, we saw 

b 2 



4 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

land. It proved to be the Island of Bermuda. 
But how came we there? Oar Captain had 
no intention of running down to that latitude. 
From the first few hours after leaving the 
capes, the winds had been light, chiefly from 
the north and north-west, and the weather 
thick. No accurate observations could be 
taken. We were aware that the ship had 
fallen to the south before entering the gulf- 
stream, but had counted upon its current, 
which sweeps from south to north, bringing us 
sufficiently back again. It happened that, 
when we entered it, the wind freshened, and 
carried us across very fast, dying away soon 
afterwards. Thus the current had but little 
time to act, in drifting us again to the north. 
This seemed to be, in part, the way of account- 
ing for the situation of the ship. Yet the fact 
was strange that she should be so far south, as 
no very strong winds had blown from the north, 
or any quarter. I am sensible that, to present 
this fact properly, the precise state of the 
winds, with the ship's reckoning for each day, 
ought to be given, which I have not the means 
of doing. Humboldt, who overlooked nothing 
connected with the phenomena of nature, re- 
marks in his Personal Narrative upon the small 
portion of knowledge which we possess of the 
absolute position and breadth of the gulf- 



1817. COURT OF LONDON. 5 

stream, as well as of its prolongation towards 
the coasts of Europe and Africa? and as the 
true knowledge of it would be of the highest 
importance in shortening voyages, he hints 
that it might be useful if vessels furnished with 
the best instruments were instructed to cruise 
in the gulf of Mexico, and in the Atlantic, 
between the 30th and 54th degrees of north 
latitude, expressly with a view to determine at 
what distances, and in what precise directions, 
the stream is found in different seasons and 
under the influence of different winds. The 
same navigators, he remarks, might have in- 
structions to examine whether this great cur- 
rent constantly skirts the southern bank of 
Newfoundland ; and on what parallel between 
32 and 40 degrees of west longitude the waters 
which run from east to west, are nearest to 
those which flow in an opposite direction. The 
Commodore, who was considered by thosewho 
knew him best, to be as skilful a navigator as 
he was an accomplished officer, inclined to the 
belief, I thought, that the currents of the 
ocean, the theory of which we do not yet fully 
understand, had exerted some agency in bring- 
ing the ship into the situation described. 

On the evening of the 28th, after having 
had Bermuda in view for a few hours, and 
noticing some signals made to us, the wind 



6 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

springing up, we gladly bade it adieu, and 
laid our course for England. It was on the 
Sunday following that we had the storm. 
From that time the ship went swiftly onward 
under boisterous winds. On the 14th of De- 
cember we were in the Channel. The nights 
were long and dark ; the days gloomy. We 
could get no good observation from the sun or 
stars. We spoke no vessels, saw none ; nor 
any sign of a pilot. The New England pilot 
boats and those of the Chesapeake, our offi- 
cers said, would run out to sea twenty and 
thirty miles to look for vessels ; but here, in 
the English Channel, such a high-way for ves- 
sels, no pilots were to be seen, and at a season 
when most wanted. It was somewhat remark- 
able, that neither the Commodore, who had 
been twenty years in the navy, nor any of his 
Lieutenants, though seven in number and 
some like himself familiar with almost all seas, 
had ever before been up the English Channel; 
nor had the sailing-master, or mate. Cowes or 
Portsmouth was the port we desired to make. 
Our midshipmen, two, in particular, whose 
names I remember, young Powell of Virginia 
and Cooper of New York, would climb up to 
the truck of the mainmast ; but neither land, 
nor light-house, nor pilot-boat, nor any thing 
could be descried. All was a dreary waste. 



1$IJ. COURT OF LONDON. 7 

Throughout the 14th and 15th the Commo- 
dore's anxiety Avas very great, especially by 
night, for the weather was rough, and he be- 
lieved we were close by the coast. The ship 
was chiefly steered by soundings ; her situa- 
tion being ascertained from the appearances of 
the soil which the lead brought up ; a resource 
when other guides of navigation fail, but tedi- 
ous and apt to prove deceptive. 

At length, early in the morning of the 16th, 
all uneasiness was dispelled. The first gleams 
of light disclosed land. It was a long blue- 
looking ridge rising out of the water. A gun 
was fired, which brought a pilot. We learned, 
as he stepped on board, that the land before us 
was the Isle of Wight, and that we were near 
Cowes. All eyes were upon him as he passed 
along the deck. The first person that comes 
on ship-board after a voyage seems like a new 
link to human existence. When he took his 
station at the helm, I heard the Commodore ask 
how the Needles bore. " Ahead north," he 
answered. — " Do you take the ship through 
them?" — "Ay." — " Does the wind set right, 
and have you enough ?" — " Ay." This closed 
all dialogue, as far as I heard. He re- 
mained at his post, giving his 'laconic orders. 
In good time we approached the Needles. The 
spectacle was grand. Our officers gazed in 



8 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

admiration. The very men, who swarmed 
upon the deck, made a pause to look upon 
the giddy height. The most exact steering 
seemed necessary to save the ship from the 
sharp rocks that compress the waters into the 
narrow strait below. But she passed easily 
through. There is something imposing in en- 
tering England by this access. I afterwards 
entered at Dover, in a packet, from Calais ; my 
eye fixed upon the sentinels as they slowly 
paced the heights. But those cliffs, bold as 
they are, and immortalized by Shakspeare, did 
not equal the passage through the Needles. 
There was a breathless curiosity also in the 
first approach augmenting its intrinsic gran- 
deur. 

In a little while we anchored off Cowes. If 
the Needles were a grand sight, the one now 
before us was full of beauty. Castles, cottages, 
villas, gardens, were scattered on all sides. 
When we left our own country, the leaves had 
fallen, and the grass lost its green ; but now, 
although the season was more advanced and 
we had got to a higher latitude, a general ver- 
dure was to be seen. This was doubtless the 
effect in part of exquisite cultivation, and in 
part of the natural moisture and mildness of 
the climate of this part of England. As we 
looked all round after so immediately emerging 



'] 1817. COURT OF LONDON. 9 

from the gloom of the ocean, it seemed like 
enchantment. Boats came off from the shore 
to look at our ship ; the persons in them, their 
dress, countenances, the minutest thing, caught 
our attention. Our Consul at Cowes came on 
board, and some officers of the port. Three 
pilots also came. Between these and our pilot 
words were soon heard. The cause was re- 
markable. It turned out that our pilot was in 
fact no pilot. He had been one, but his branch 
was taken away for habitual drunkenness. 
Continuing to own his boat, he sailed about 
this part of the Channel at his pleasure, like 

, the old man of the sea. Hearing our gun, he 
came on board, and, making the most of our 
being a foreign ship, cunningly resorted to the 
exercise of his old craft. The disappointed 
pilots declared, and our Consul rather confirm- 
ed what they said, that at the moment of their 
dispute he was in a state of intoxication ; so 

i that we were then first made acquainted with 
the fact of having been brought through the 
Needles by a drunken steersman ! It appeared 
singular that such an occurrence should have 
happened in the English Channel ; yet so it 
was. It was hinted that he had so good a tact 
in his business, and knew that part of the coast 
so well, that he would generally steer right 
even when drunk. Such was the lucky acci- 



10 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 1 7. 

dent in our case, and, being ignorant, we were 
not uneasy. His drunkenness taking the form 
of taciturnity, he escaped detection in the eyes 
of strangers, though his sulkiness had not been 
unnoticed. The others stoutly denied his 
right to any fees ; but as the fact of service 
performed was in his favour, and no one else 
could claim on that ground, the Commodore 
did not think it rested with him to settle 
points of law. Our Palinurus certainly had 
the advantage in alertness over the sleepy set 
who would have robbed him of his reward. 



Cassio, I forgive thee ; 



But never more be officer of mine." 



1817. COURT OF LONDON. 11 



CHAPTER II. 

LANDING AT PORTSMOUTH AND JOURNEY TO LONDON. 

I stayed on ship-board two days waiting 
the proper order from London, for which the 
Consulhad written, to have my baggage passed. 
During this interval the surrounding scene 
lost none of its interest : it was further enliven- 
ed by visitors coming on board the ship. We 
got the London newspapers wet from the press. 
It is a remark of Humboldt, that no language 
can express the emotion that a European 
naturalist feels when he touches for the first 
time American land. May not the remark be 
reversed by saying, that no language can 
express the emotion which almost every 
American feels when he first touches the 
shores of Europe? This feeling must have a 
special increase, if it be the case of a citizen of 
'the United States going to England. Her 
fame is constantly before him. He is accus- 
tomed to hear of her statesmen, her orators, 
her scholars, her philosophers, her divines, 
her patriots. In the nursery he learns her 



12 RESIDENCE AT THE 1 8 I 7. 

ballads. Her poets train his imagination. 
Her language is his, with its whole intel- 
lectual riches, past, and for ever newly flow- 
ing ; a tie, to use Burke's figure, light as 
air, and unseen ; but stronger than links 
of iron. In spite of political differences, 
her glory allures him. In spite of hostile col- 
lision, he clings to her lineage. After Captain 
Decatur's capture of a British frigate, some one 
asked him if his forefathers were not French. 
" No, I beg pardon," he answered, " they were 
English." In that spirit would his country- 
men generally answer. Walking the deck 
with two of our lieutenants, while sounding up 
the Channel, " Think/' said one of them, " that 
we may be in the track of the Armada ;" and 
they talked of the heroine queen at Tilbury. 
These are irrepressible feelings in an American. 
His native patriotism takes a higher tone from 
dwelling on the illustrious parent stock. 
Places and incidents that Englishmen pass by 
arrest his attention. He sees the past in con- 
junction with the present. Three thousand 
miles, said Franklin, are as three thousand 
years. Intervention of space seems to kindle 
enthusiasm, like intervention of time. Is it not | 
fit that two such nations should be friends ? 
Let us hope so. It is the hope which every 
minister from the United States should carry 



.I817. COURT, OF LONDON. 13 

With him to England. It is the hope in which 
pvery British minister of State should meet 
;iim. If, nevertheless, rivalry is in the nature 
; bf things, at least let it be generous ; never 
paltry, never malignant. 

The order for my baggage not arriving at 
;he time expected, I landed without it. Pre- 
ferring to land at Portsmouth, the boats were 
prepared, and on the 19th I left the ship. The 
Commodore and some of his officers accom- 
'oanied me. A salute was fired, as on embark - 
' ng ; the usual ceremony when our ministers 
ire received on board, or landed from, the 
national ships. Approaching Portsmouth, we 
bassed numerous vessels of war. Some were 
ying in ordinary, some ready for sea. There 
were docks, and arsenals, and store-houses, and 
Datteries, and fortifications. The day was fair ; 
the wind fresh. This gave animation to the 
larbour scene, swelling the sails of vessels in 
notion, and streaming out the colours of those 
"at anchor. It was a fine naval panorama. Be- 
sides formidable rows of line of battle ships 
and frigates, we saw transports crowded with 
'troops. I had before seen ports alive with the 
'bustle of trade ; but never one so frowning and 
glistening with features and objects of war. 

When we reached the shore, tide-waiters 
advanced to take possession of my baggage. 



14 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

The}^ were informed of my public character. 
This did not turn them from their purpose. 
The national ship from which I had debarked 
was in view ; her colours flying. Still they 
alleged, that having received no orders to the 
contrary, they must inspect my baggage. I 
said to Commodore Stewart that, strictly, they 
were right, and directed my servant to deliver 
it. There was but little, the principal part 
having been left on board to await the permit 
of exemption. It might have been supposed 
that these guardians of the revenue would have 
satisfied their sense of duty by a merely formal 
examination of what was delivered so readily. 
Not so ; every thing was ransacked ; the folds 
of linen opened ; small portmanteaus peered 
into, as if contraband lurked in every corner. 
Nothing was overlooked. A few books brought 
for amusement on the voyage w r ere taken pos- 
session of, and I had to go on without them. 
I should have been disposed to make complaint 
of this mock official fidelity and subaltern folly, 
but from an unwillingness to begin my public 
career with a complaint. I remembered also to 
have heard Mr. Adams say, that when the 
Allied Sovereigns visited England after the 
battle of Waterloo, their baggage was inspected 
at Dover, the order for exemption having, by an 
inadvertence, not been sent. There is no pri- 



1 8 17. COURT OF LONDON. 15 

|vilege, by positive law, of a foreign minister's 
ffects from Custom-house examination ; but 
y universal comity, it is forborne. The exer- 
cise of such a claim with the privity of a Go- 
vernment would become an affront. I must 
|add, that the order for the full delivery of all 
limine, with every immunity, arrived at Cowes 
soon after I left the ship. In the sequel the 
unlucky books found their way back to me.* 

I proceeded to the George Inn in Ports- 
mouth, where the Commodore and his officers 
j were to give me the favour of their company 
at dinner. Arrived there, we had every atten- 
tion from the master, and his servants. Com- 
fortable apartments were promptly prepared, 
and the ready-laid fires lighted. We found 
^that careful anticipation of our wants, and 
orderly arrangement of every thing, for which 
English inns were said to be remarkable. 

Whilst seated round the fire, fatigued by the 

excitements we had gone through, and waiting 

the summons to dinner, we heard bells. It was 

a fine chime to which all listened, my wife 

pi especially. Sometimes the sound grew faint, 

* The author refers to this incident with a proper for- 
bearance. Those who, even without the shield of a public 
character, which here it seems was no shield, have been 
exposed to the perpetually recurring annoyances of the 
" douane," while travelling on the Continent, can best appre- 
ciate the extent of the forbearance. 



16 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I /. 

and then from a turn in the wind, came back 
in peals. We knew not the cause. It passed 
in our thoughts that the same bells might have 
rung their hurras for the victories of Hawke 
and Nelson ; " May be" said one of the party, 
"for Sir Cloudesley ShoveTstoo" Thus musing, 
an unexpected piece of intelligence found its 
way to our circle. We were given to under- 
stand that they were ringing on the occasion 
of my arrival ; a compliment to my station to 
which I had not looked. We went in to our 
first dinner under a continuation of their peals. 
The cloth removed, we had a glass or two to 
our country and friends, after which we left the 
table. When all were re-assembled in the 
sitting-room, I had an intimation the " Royal 
Bell-ringers were in waiting in the hall, desirous 
of seeing me." They did not ask admittance, 
I was told, but at my pleasure. I directed 
them to be shown in at once, beginning now to 
understand the spring to the compliment. Eight 
men with coats reaching down to their heels, 
hereupon slowly entered. They ranged 
themselves one after another, in a solemn 
line along the wall. Every thing being ad- 
justed, the spokesman at their head broke 
silence with the following intelligible address. 
He said that they had come, " with their due 
and customary respects, to wish me joy on my 



1 1 8 1 7- COURT OF LONDON. 17 

safe arrival in Old England as Ambassador Ex- 
traordinary from the United States, hoping to 
receive from me the usual favour, such as they 
had received from other ambassadors, for which 
they had their book to show" Their book was 
a curiosity. It looked like a venerable heir- 
loom of office. There were in it, the names of 
I know not how many ambassadors, ministers, 
and other functionaries, arriving from foreign 
parts, throughout the lapse of I know not 
how many ages, with the donation? annexed to 
each. Magna Charta itself was not a more im- 
portant document to the liberties of England, 
than this book to the Royal Bell-ringers of 
Portsmouth ! I cheerfully gave to the good- 
humoured fraternity the gratuity which their 
efforts in their vocation appeared to have drawn 
from so many others under like circumstances. 
So, and with other incidents, passed my first 
day in England. 

On the following morning, Admiral Thorn- 
borough, the admiral in command at Ports- 
mouth, Sir James Yeo, captain in the British 
navy, and Sir George Grey, chief commissioner 
of the dock-yard, called upon me. They of- 
fered their congratulations on my arrival. The 
Admiral said, that if Commodore Stewart re- 
quired any supplies for his ship, every facility 
which the yard afforded would be at his com- 

c 



18 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

mancL He added, that he would be happy in 
the opportunity of showing him the hospitali- 
ties of the port. Sir George Grey expressed 
his regrets that he had not known* of my in- 
tention to land at Portsmouth, saying that he 
would have sent the Admiralty Yacht to the 
Franklin to bring me, my family, and suite, on 
shore ; the more so, as the day was blustering, 
and he feared we had suffered from exposure 
in the ship's boats, the distance being several 
miles from Cowes to Portsmouth. I made the 
acknowledgments which these courtesies de- 
manded. If but the natural offspring of the 
occasion, they tended to show, that whatever 
had been the conduct of the subordinates of 
the Custom-house, those who stood higher 
were likely to be actuated by different feelings 
towards an official stranger. I estimated pro- 
perly Sir George Grey's offer, but had a silent 
feeling that would have made me prefer under 
any circumstances the landing from the ship's 
boats, with my country's flag at the stern. * 
At noon I set out for London, My family 

* Every American, who has been long absent from his 
country, will estimate this feeling. How much more to be 
estimated in a representative of the United States., upon 
first landing on a foreign shore, while equally and properly 
alive to the kindness here mentioned, and so often to be met 
with among the English in public station. 



Ml 7- COURT OF LONDON. 19 

consisted of my wife, four small children, young 
Mr. Tayloe,* of Washington, attached to my 
legation, whose name I cannot mention without 
an allusion to his amiable and gentlemanlike 
qualities, and three servants. As the post- 
chaises drew up, the master of the inn returned 
me his thanks for my custom. The servants 
also formed a line on each side of the hall, 
thanking us as we passed along. I am aware 
that this had all been paid for ; still there is a 
charm in civility. Money owing, says the mo- 
ralist of Tusculanum, is not paid, and when 
oaid is not owing; but he who pays gratitude 
possesses it, and he who possesses, pays it. So, 
civility for the small things of life is a species 
:>f gratitude which we like. We were soon out 
Df Portsmouth, and went as far as Godalming 
:hat day, a distance of thirty-eight miles, over 
x>ads like a floor. 

I was surprised at the few houses along or 
lear the road side. I had been full of the idea 
}f the populousness of England, and although 
[ must needs have supposed that this could 
lot be the case in every spot, it had not oc- 
curred to me that along such a high road I 
should find the first and so remarkable an 
Exception. We rarely met waggons, carriages, 

* Son of Colonel Tayloe, of Mount Airy, Virginia, one of 
he best specimens of an American gentleman. 

c2 



20 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

or vehicles of any sort, except stage-coaches. 
We did not see a single person on horseback. 
The stage-coaches illustrated what is said of 
the excellence of that mode of travelling in 
England. These, as they came swiftly down 
the hills or were met in full trot upon the 
level road, the horses fine, the harness bright, 
inside and outside filled with passengers, not 
only men but women crowding the top, had a 
bold and picturesque appearance. The few 
peasants whom we saw were fully and warmly 
clad. They wore breeches, a heavy shoe, which, 
lacing over the ankle, made the foot look 
clumsy ; a linen frock over the coat, and stout 
leather gloves, which they kept on while work- 
ing. They were generally robust men, short, 
and of fair complexions. We passed a waggon 
of great size. It had no pole, but double 
shafts, with a horse in each, and a line of four j 
horses before each shaft horse, making ten in all, * 
of enormous size. Their tails were uncut, and J 
the long shaggy hair hung about their pasterns. -J 
The waggon was loaded with bales pile upon 
pile, higher than I had ever seen. Our posti- > 
lions called it the Portsmouth heavy waggon. 
We afterwards saw others of like size and con- 
struction, drawn by like horses, loaded with 
the produce of agriculture. Whilst the draft- 
horses were thus enormous and rough, and the 



: 



1817. COURT OF LONDON. 21 

stage-coach horses sleek and beautiful, our post- 
horses were small, gaunt, and unsightly, but 

< with great capacity to go fast. I was looking 
for a favourable change in their appearance 
at every relay, without finding it. In good 
time I discovered that the principle of sub- 
division applied to horses, with as much strict- 
ness as to every thing else in England, there 
being every variety for work and luxury. 

In regard to population, I had subsequent 
opportunities of perceiving that there were 
other parts of England, and of greater extent, 
where it was much more thin than was gene- 
rally the case from Portsmouth to Godalming. 

. London, and a circuit of twenty miles round, 

j give more than two millions of inhabitants ; 
Yorkshire gives one million, and Lancashire 
about one million. Hence these three portions 

j of territory, so small when compared with all 
England, embrace nearly one third of her 

j population. This concentration in particular 
districts seems to have left others relatively 
bare. It is difficult to believe under such 
facts, whatever theories we meet with, that 
England is at present overpeopled. Her soil, 

I it would seem, must be open to further melio- 
rations, which, with improved systems of policy 
and agriculture, and further means of internal 
communication, great as are already the latter, 



22 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

will in time not distant carry her population as 
far above what it now is, as it now exceeds what 
it was at the period of her early kings. If we 
take Holland as an example of successful in- 
dustry and art, where a nation has been com- 
pelled to struggle against the disadvantages of 
a stinted soil, there are great portions of terri- 
tory in England still like a desert, which after- 
ages may behold productive. 

At Godalming we lost our mocking-bird, j 

We had brought it as a mark of remembrance 

from Mr. Crawford, formerly Minister of the 

United States in France, to Lady Auckland, 

of kindnesses received from her in England. 

We nursed it with all care during the voyage. 

It drooped, however, at sea, and the night 

being cold at Godalming, it died. This 

bird is small, and has no beauty of plumage. 

Its notes are as melodious as the nightingale's, 

and of more variety; but I doubt if they can 

ever be drawn out in their full extent and 

richness, except in its native climates. Fox, * 

as we learn in the introduction to his James II., 

thought the notes of the nightingale sprightly 

rather than plaintive, and refers to the " Floure 

and Leafe" of Chaucer as showing him to 

have been of that opinion, when he speaks 

of its merry song. Fox even calls Theocritus 

to his aid, who makes the yellow nightingale 



1817. COURT OF LONDON. 23 



i" trill her minstrelsy" in notes responsive to 
^he cheerful blackbird's. Could this British 
statesman, who in the midst of his graver 
pursuits was so alive to thfe beauties of poetry 
.p,nd nature, have heard the American mock- 
ling-bird warbling its wood notes ivild, he would 
at one moment have been cheered by their 
isprightliness ; the next, soothed by their melan- 
choly. 

I On the morning of the 21st we proceeded 
<tan our journey. Every thing now began to 
wear a different aspect. The change was more 
.decided after passing Guildford, the county 
town of Surrey. We saw the traces of a more 
abundant population, and advanced state of 
husbandry. The season did not show the 
(country in its best dress ; but we were enabled 
to see more of it by the very absence of the foli- 
age. Farms, and common dwellings, with fields 
beautifully divided, and enclosed ; country 
seats with lodges and stately gates of iron 
marking the entrance to them ; lawns, fresh 
and verdant, though it was the winter solstice ; 
parks and pleasure-grounds munificently en- 
closed ; ancient trees in avenues, standing in 
copses, or shooting up among the hedges, with 
shrubbery tastefully arranged in gardens, and 
vines and flowers clustering about the houses, 
were among the objects that rose in succession 



24 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

as we passed along. We put frequent ques- 
tions to the postilions, but they could tell us 
little. The eye was constantly occupied. None 
of us had ever before been in Europe. As we 
got nearer to London, indications multiplied of 
what had been effected by time, to fill up its 
vast environs. Unlike the approaches to Rome, 
some of which are said to be at the present day 
through partial desolation, all within our view 
grew more and more instinct with life : until, 
at length, evening coming on, at first villages, 
then rows of buildings, and people, and twink- 
ling lights, and all kinds of sound, gave token 
that the metropolis was close by. We entered 
it by Hyde Park Corner, passing through 
Piccadilly and Bond Street, beholding the 
moving crowds which now the town lights re- 
vealed. Another turn brought us into Conduit 
Street, where rooms had been engaged for our 
accommodation. In a little while we proceeded 
to the house of Ross Cuthbert, Esq., in Glouces- 
ter Place, a Canadian gentleman, married to J 
one of my sisters, at whose hospitable table we 
dined : where also it was my fortune to meet 
another sister, wife of Major Manners of the 
British army. 






iSiy. COURT OF LONDON. 25 



CHAPTEE III. 

| FIRST INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH. — FIRST 
APPEARANCES OF LONDON. 

December 22, 1817. I addressed a note to 
Lord Castlereagh, the English Secretary-of- 

j state for Foreign Affairs, informing him of 
my arrival. I asked when I might have the 

] honour of calling on him. He immediately 
replied that he would be happy to see me at 
the Foreign-office, in Downing Street, on the 

J following day at four o'clock. 

December 23. Went to the Foreign-office. 
A sentry was walking before the door. I was 
admitted by a porter, and shown by a mes- 
senger into an ante-room. Another messenger 
conducted me up-stairs to Lord Castlereagh's 
apartment. First salutations being over, I said 

J that I should be happy to learn at what time I 
might have the honour of delivering to his 
lloyal Highness the Prince Regent my letter 
of credence from the President, constituting 



26 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

me Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
potentiary of the United States, at his Royal 
Highness's court. I handed his Lordship a 
copy of the letter. He replied, that the Prince 
was at Brighton ; that he himself was going 
there the next day, expecting to be absent a 
week ; that he did not know precisely when 
the Prince would leave Brighton, but was 
sure he would appoint an early day for receiv- 
ing me, after he came to town. I said that 
his Royal Highness's pleasure on the occasion 
would be mine. His Lordship begged I would 
consider myself free to call upon him, imme- 
diately after his own return to town ; remark- 
ing that he would consider my reception by 
the Prince as having taken place, if there were 
any subjects I desired to broach beforehand. 
He added, that his wish would invariably be 
to give every facility to the transaction of bu- 
siness between us, in the hope of results satis- 
factory to both countries ; for all which I thanked 
him. He also said that perhaps he might wish 
to converse with me on matters of business, 
before my formal reception. He made en- 
quiries for Mr. Adams, my immediate prede- 
cessor in the mission,* and President Monroe, 

* John Quincy Adams, afterwards President of the United 
States. 



817. COURT OF LONDON. 27 

whom he had also known in England. He 
spoke of the prosperity of the United States, 
which he said he heard of with pleasure : re- 
marking that the prosperity of one commercial 
nation contributed to that of others. His whole 
reception of me was very conciliatory. There 
was a simplicity in his manner, the best, and 
most attractive characteristic of a first inter- 
view. It lasted about twenty minutes. 

December 24. — Go through several parts of 
the town.: Bond Street, Albemarle Street, 
Berkeley Square, Piccadilly, St. James's Street 
and Park, Pall Mall, St. James's Square, the 
Strand, and a few others. Well-dressed per- 
sons, men and women, throng them. In the 
dresses of both, black predominates. It is 
nearly universal. This proceeds from the 
general mourning for the Princess Charlotte, 
late heiress apparent to the throne, who died 
in November. The roll of chariots, and car- 
riages of all kinds, from two until past four, 
was incessant. In all directions they were in 
motion. It was like a show — the horses, the 
coachmen with triangular hats and tassels, the 
footmen with cockades and canes — it seemed 
as if nothing could exceed it all. Yet I was 
told that the sight in Hyde Park, any day in 
May or June, was more striking ; and that if 
it happened to be on the same day with the 



28 RESIDENCE AT THE 1817. 

Epsom or Ascot races, which keep the roads 
alive for ten miles with London carriages, a 
stranger misses none from the Park.* Some- 
times with this glitter of private equipages, you 
saw a stationary line of hacks, the worndown 
horses eating out of nose-bags ; and sometimes, 
at a slow, tugging walk, immense waggons, 
filled with coals, in black sacks, drawn by 
black horses, large, and shaggy, and fat, as 
those in the Portsmouth waggon. I am dis- 
appointed in the general exterior of the dwel- 
ling-houses. I had anticipated something better 
at the west end of the town ; more symmetry ; 
buildings more by themselves, denoting the 
residences of the richest people in the richest 
city in Europe. But I do not yet see these. 
I see haberdashers' shops, poulterers' shops, 
the leaden stalls of fishmongers, and the 
slaughtering blocks of butchers, in the near 
vicinity of a nobleman's mansion and a king's 

* This was true it seems more than half a century ago. 
How true it is now, probably to a ten-fold degree, is well 
known to all who have been much in London during " the 
season," and witnessed the display in Hyde Park on any fine 
day in May, June, or July, when these beautiful equipages, 
sometimes six and eight abreast, may be counted literally 
by the thousand, all at a slow walk, and all under the 
highest discipline. There is nothing like it any where on 
the Continent of Europe. The display in the Bois de 
Boulogne, in the height of the Paris season, striking as that ! 
formerly was, could not be compared to it. 



1817. COURT OF LONDON. 29 

palace. This may be necessary, or convenient, 
for the supplies of a capital too large to admit 
of one or more cencentrated markets ; but the 
imagination at a distance pictures something 
different. Perhaps it is to give a hint of Eng- 
lish liberty : if so, I will be the last to find 
fault. Being the day before Christmas, there 
was more display in the shops than usual. I 
did not get back until candle-light. The whole 
scene began to be illuminated. Altogether, 
what a scene it was ! the shops in the Strand 
and elsewhere, where every conceivable article 
lay before you ; and all made in England, 
which struck me the more, coming from a 
country where few things are made, however 
foreign commerce may send them to us ; then, 
the open squares, and gardens ; the parks with 
spacious walks ; the palisades of iron, or en- 
closures of solid wall, wherever enclosures were 
requisite ; the people ; the countless number 
of equipages, and fine horses ; the gigantic 
draft horses ; — what an aspect the whole ex- 
hibited ! what industry, what luxury, what 
infinite particulars, what an aggregate ! The 
men were taller and straighter than the 
peasantry I had seen. The lineaments of a 
race descend like their language. The people I 
met, constantly reminded me of those of my 
I own country — I caught the same expression — 



30 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 7. 

often it glided by in complete identity — my ear 
took in accents to which it was native — but I 
knew no one. It was like coming to another 
planet, familiar with voices and faces, yet 
encircled by strangers. 

December 31. The fog was so thick that 
the shops in Bond Street had lights at noon. 
I could not see people in the street from my 
windows. I am tempted to ask, how the Eng- 
lish became great with so little daylight? It 
seems not to come fully out until nine in the 
morning, and immediately after four it is gone. 
King Charles's saying of the English climate 
is often brought up ; that it interrupts outdoor 
labour fewer da'ys in the year than any other. 
Did he remember the fogs of London, and how 
very short the day is, for labour, during a por- 
tion of the year ? 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 31 



CHAPTER IV. 



INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH. — SLAVES CAR- 
RIED AWAY FROM THE UNITED STATES CONTRARY TO 

THE TREATY OF GHENT. EQUALIZATION OF TONNAGE 

DUTIES. — WEST INDIA TRADE. — MEMBERS OF THE 
BRITISH AND AMERICAN CABINETS. 



January 3, 1818. Called on Lord Castle- 
reagh at eleven in the morning, at his private 
residence, St. James's Square. It was by his 
request, in a note received yesterday. I was 
I shown into a room near the hall. Family por- 
traits were on one side, books on another, and 
two white bull-dogs lying before the fire. 
Contradicting their looks, they proved good- 
natured. In a few minutes, a servant con- 
ducted me into a room adjoining, where I 
jfound Lord Castlereagh. He received me 
with his former courtesy, renewing his oblig- 
ing inquiries for the health of my family after 
our winter's voyage, with the expression of a 
pope that the fogs of London had not alarmed 
us. 



32 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

He informed me that he had been to Brigh- 
ton, and delivered to the Prince Regent the 
copy of my letter of credence, and that the 
Prince would receive me as soon as he came to 
town. In the mean time he had his Royal 
Highness's commands to say, that I must look 
upon myself as already, in effect, accredited. 

He proceeded to say, that if there were any 
subjects of business I desired to mention, he 
would hear me, He remarked, that it had 
been his habit to treat of business with the 
foreign ministers in frank conversations ; a 
course that saved time, and was in other ways 
preferable, as a general one, to official notes. 
He intimated his wish to do the same with me. 
I replied, that nothing could be more agreeable 
to me than to be placed upon that footing with 
him. 

The way being opened for business, I en- 
tered upon it. I said there were two subjects 
that my Government had charged me to bring 
to the notice of that of his Majesty without 
delay. The first had reference to the slaves 
carried off by English ships from the United 
States at the close of the late war,* in con- 
travention, as we alleged, of the treaty of 
Ghent. This subject, already discussed be- 

* The War of 1812. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 33 

tween the two Governments without prospect 
jof an agreement, was exciting, I remarked, an 
[interest in the United States, to be expected 
iwhere the property and rights of a large class 
of its citizens were at stake. It had therefore 
been made my earliest duty to renew the pro- 
iposition submitted by my* Government, and 
Relieved to point to the best if not only mode 
of satisfactory settlement. The proposition 
was, that the question be referred to a third 
power to be chosen as umpire between the 
parties. This course was recommended by the 
example of provisions in the treaty of Ghent 
las to other subjects on which differences of 
jopinion had existed between the two nations ; 
my Government therefore had the hope that 
j Great Britain would accede to it in this in- 
stance also. 

j Lord Castlereagh said, that he had been 
much on the Continent, whilst the discussions 
on this subject were going forward, and in- 
quired if we had precise information as to the 
number of slaves carried away. I replied, not 
in hand, but that it would be afforded at the 
proper time. He next asked, if their dispersed 
jsituation would not be an impediment to resti- 
tution. This was met by saying, that the 
owners would look to a pecuniary equivalent. 
'Conversation was continued on the general 



34 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

question. In conclusion, he promised to keep 
it in mind. 

The next subject grew out of the commer- 
cial convention between the two countries, of 
the 3rd of July 1815. This convention had 
established a reciprocity of duties and charges 
of all kinds, upon tlie vessels of the two nations 
in each other's ports. Its operation was, by 
its terms, to begin from the day of its date. 
The rule of reciprocity ought therefore to have 
attached, practically, at that time ; instead of 
which, each nation continued for a while to 
levy the duties existing before the convention, 
and Great Britain had not yet abolished them 
all. My Government desired, I said, to carry 
back the operation of the convention to the 
day of its date, and was ready to give this rule 
effect by retrospective measures, hoping to find 
a corresponding disposition in his Majesty's 
Government. 

This subject being new to his Lordship, he 
gave no opinion upon it, but promised, as in ' 
the other case, to seek the necessary lights for 
forming one. I may state that, in the end, 
it was adjusted to the satisfaction of both 
nations. 

The foregoing being the only topics which 
it fell within my purpose to bring to Lord 
Castlereagh's notice at this time, he, in turn, 



' 1818. COURT OF LONDON. 35 

I drew my attention to a subject on which he 
desired information. 

It related to the four articles submitted by 
the British Government to my predecessor for 
partially opening the West India trade to the 
vessels of the United States. Lord Castle- 
reagh wished to know, what probability there 
was of my Government agreeing to them. 
As this trade enters much into future nego- 

I tiations between the two countries, the first 
mention of the subject calls for a succinct ex- 
planation of the general question. 

It stands thus, according to the statement 
on the side of the United States. They con- 
tend for a free intercourse in their vessels, 
with the British West India Islands, and Bri- 

i tish colonies on the continent of North Ame- 
rica, whenever the trade to either is opened at 
all by Great Britain to their flag ; else, they 
say, that, by navigation acts of their own, they 

j will be obliged to prohibit the trade altogether. 
The steady policy of England has been, to 
secure as large an employment as possible of 
her own tonnage, in carrying on her commerce 
with the rest of the world. Her celebrated 
navigation acts, commenced in Cromwell's 
time, and adhered to in principle ever since, 

' whatever occasional departures there may have 
been from them in practice, have all had this 



80 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

end in view. They provided that the whole 
trade between England and the continents of 
Asia, Africa, and America, should be carried 
on in English ships, manned by English 
sailors. They also embraced regulations that 
placed the trade between England and the 
European nations upon nearly the same foot- 
ing. It was against the previous monopoly 
of Dutch tonnage that these navigation acts 
were levelled. What more natural, than that 
other nations should be unwilling to witness 
the same monopoly in the tonnage of England, 
that she objected to in that of the Dutch ; 
more especially since the foreign and colonial 
dominions of the former, have swelled to an 
extent that could scarcely have been conceived 
in the time of Cromwell. The West India 
Islands being part of the British Empire, her 
right to interdict all trade between them and 
any foreign country, could not be denied ; and 
was not. As a general rule, she did interdict 
it. I speak of time anterior to this inter- 
view. But there were junctures when, to 
advance objects of her own, she would throw 
the trade open to the United States. When 
she did this, she confined it to her oivn ships, 
manned, as by law they must be, by her own 
sailors. What the United States claimed was, 
that, whenever the trade existed at all, it should 
be carried on in their vessels, manned by their 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 37 

sailors, just as much as in British vessels, 
manned by British sailors. The trade once 
opened, the United States were parties to it ; 
and thence urged their right to a voice in its 
regulation. This was their doctrine. It had 

|| been maintained since the days of President 
Washington. It contemplated no interference 

jj with the colonial rights, or monopoly of 
Britain. It left her at full liberty to prohibit 
the importation into her colonies of whatever 
articles she thought fit from the United States; 
and in like manner to prohibit exportations. 
It only asked, that the commercial intercourse, 

I of whatever nature it might be, that was once 
opened for her benefit, or that of both coun- 
tries, should be placed upon a footing of 
equality as to the vessels and sailors of both. 
This had lately been done in the trade be- 
tween the United States and the European 
dominions of Britain, by the convention of 
July 1815. That convention itself, unless the 
reciprocity were extended to the West Indies, 
would give undue advantages to British vessels. 
The latter could sail under its enactments, from 
Liverpool to New York, for example, paying, 
in New York, none other than American 
duties. Thence, under the English colonial 
system, they could sail to the English West 
Indies, and back again to England ; making 



38 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

profit from this threefold operation. American 
vessels, on the other hand, were confined to 
the direct track between New York and 
Liverpool. The British ship, as was well ex- 
pressed by a distinguished American senator, 
could sail on three sides of the triangle ; the 
American, only on one. 

Britain on her part alleged, that she had the 
right to regulate her trade between her colo- 
nies and the rest of the world in all respects as 
she saw fit. This she declared it was proper 
she should do, not only as regarded the com- 
modities entering into the trade, but the 
vessels carrying them. She said, that to as- 
sent to the basis of reciprocity in her trade 
between these Islands and the United States, 
would give to the latter inherent advantages, 
owing to their proximity to the Islands. That 
she maintained the Islands at great expense 
for their civil governments and military estab- 
lishments, and that on these grounds, as well 
as that of her general sovereignty over them, 
not only had the right, but held it necessary 
to her just interests, to employ, chiefly, if not 
exclusively, her own vessels and seamen in 
the trade whenever opened, no matter to what 
extent, or on what inducements. Such, 
briefly, was the British doctrine. It will 
come into view again. 



I l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 39 

I will subjoin a brief commentary upon the 
original Navigation Act of England, as passed 

1 by the Commonwealth Parliament in 1652. It 

l is by Jenkinson, from his work on treaties. 
" Critics in commerce reason variously," says 

I he, " on the benefits or disadvantages of this 

[ act. Those who argue in its disfavour, reason 
on the general principle of its being an error 
in politics to interrupt the free course of com- 

j merce by any kind of prohibitions whatsoever ; 
which is generally true, and would be always 
so, could one be assured of constant universal 
amity. But as that is very far from being the 

I case, the exception to the general rule in this 
case holds good, since nothing is more clear 
than that those who employ most ships will 
have most seamen, and consequently be best 
enabled to command the sea. It was but too 
evident by this short war, [Cromwell's with 
Holland,] how near a match for us the Dutch 

! were, and continued so for some years after ; 
and had not this act been made, would very 

I probably before this time have been too potent 

J for us, as they would have had the gross of the 
European seamen in their service ; so that the 
act, notwithstanding some inconveniences it 

I might produce in point of commerce, was a very 
happy thought in the making, and shows our 
judgment in its being continued." 

This celebrated act may be said to haw 



40 RESIDENCE AT THE l8i8. 

changed the maritime condition of the world. 
It continues to this day to affect the legislation 
of the United States. 

The four articles of which Lord Castlereagh 
spoke, reduced to th^ir essence, may be de- 
scribed thus. The fir^t extended to the United 
States the provisions of certain Free Port acts, 
as they were called, authorizing a trade in the 
articles which they enumerated, between cer- 
tain specified ports of the British West Indies, 
and the colonies of European nations, in ves- 
sels having only one deck. The second made 
a special provision for the trade between the ] 
United States and the Island of Bermuda, in a I 
larger list of articles, and without limiting the 
size of the vessel. The third allowed cotton I 
and tobacco to be imported from the United I 
States in their own vessels to Turks Island, I 
and salt to be taken away from that island, also 
in their vessels. The fourth aimed at regulating 
the intercourse, though under many restrictions, 
between the United States and the British 
continental colonies in America, adjoining the 
dominions of the former. 

To Lord Castlereagh's inquiry as to the pro- 
bability of my Government agreeing to these 
articles, I replied, " that the President, when I 
left Washington, had them under considera- 
tion ; but I owed it to candour to say, that 



l8l8. COUKT OF LONDON. 41 

there was little likelihood of their being accept- 
ed, so far did they fall short of the reciprocity 
desired." He afterwards inquired of what na- 
ture would be our counter projet, in the event 
■jof their rejection. I said, one that would open 
this trade fully, and above all give to British 
vessels no privileges of any kind whatever, 
direct or incidental, over the vessels of the 
United States. The latter were ready to grant, 
in their ports, to British vessels coming from 
j the islands, all the privileges which their own 
vessels enjoyed ; and could not be content with 
less to their vessels, in the ports of the is- 
lands. Lord Castlereagh here spoke generally 
3 of the colonial system of Britain. He said it 
was interwoven with her whole commercial 
code, and code of navigation; and that she owed 
it to interests which she believed to be important 
j in both connexions, to adhere to the system in 
the main, however willing to submit to occa- 
sional or partial relaxations. I rejoined, that, 
with whatever reluctance the United States 
would adopt the policy of closing the trade al- 
together, in the continued absence of the reci- 
] procity for which they contended, they would 
j at last be compelled to adopt it, in necessary 
justice to their own commercial and navigating 
interests. I referred him to some acts of Con- 
gress already passed with that intent. He 



42 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

wound up by remarking, that Britain, consi- 
dering the nature of her colonial system, had 
no right to complain of measures of that cha- 
racter on the part of the United States, how- 
ever she might regret them ; nor would she 
complain. She had maintained it so long, that 
she would find it difficult on that as well as 
other accounts, to change it. Such was the 
general outline of what fell from him. 

Before I came away, he said, that the Christ- 
mas holidays had scattered the members of the 
cabinet ; they were chiefly in the country ; on 
the return of some of them to town he would 
avail himself of an early opportunity of ena- 
bling me to make their acquaintance by meet- 
ing them at dinner at his house. 

I will here give the names of those who, at 
that time, composed the British Cabinet. They 
were as follow : — The Earl of Liverpool, First 
Lord of the Treasury, and Prime Minister ; 
Lord Eldon, Lord Chancellor; the Earl of 
Harrowby, Lord President of the Council ; the 
Earl of Westmoreland, Lord Privy Seal ; Lord 
Sidmouth, Secretary-of-state for the Home 
department ; Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary- 
of-state for Foreign Affairs; Earl Bathurst, 
Secretary-of-state for the Colonial department ; 
Mr. Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer ; 
Lord Melville, First Lord of the Admiralty ; 






8 1 8. COURT OF LONDON. 43 

Jhe Earl of Mulgrave, Master-general of the 
Ordnance; Mr. Canning, President of the 
i3oard of Control for the Affairs of India ; Mr. 
»Vellesley Pole, Master of the Mint; and Mr. 
C. B. Bathurst, Chancellor of the Duchy of 
Lancaster. These comprehended the whole 
list on my arrival in England. No other 
Officers of the Government, however high in 
tation, were then of the cabinet. The Secre- 
jary-of-war was not, nor the Attorney-general, 
the absence of the former I could not well 
explain, although the Colonial Secretary acted 
n the concerns of war at cabinet councils, see- 
ing that the navy had a stated representative 
n those councils. Was not the army entitled 
to equal consideration ? I could even less ex- 
plain the exclusion of the Attorney-general. 
No acts of government, in a free country, are 
ndependent of law. Hence, I should have 
riferred, that this officer would have been one 
}f the primary advisers of the Crown. I was 
iatware of the high legal functions of the Lord 
Chancellor ; but in the complicated and daily 
workings of the machine of free government 
throughout a vast empire, I could still see 
room for the Attorney-general in the cabinet. 

During my residence of more than seven 
years at the English court, this administration 
remained unchanged. There were resignations 



44 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8 

that led to new appointments, and some trans 
positions. The Duke of Wellington was made 
Master-general of the Ordnance, on the resig-, 
nation of Lord Mulgrave. Lord Sidmouth 
retired from the Home department, and was 
succeeded by Mr. Peel. Mr. Wellesley Pole 
gave up the Mastership of the Mint for a situa- 
tion nearer the person of the King, and was 
created Lord Maryborough. Mr. C. B. Ba- 
thurst went out of the Chancellorship of the; 
Duchy of Lancaster, into which Mr. Vansittart 
passed ; the latter being also called to the 
peerage, under the title of Lord Bexley. Mr. 
Robinson, afterwards Lord Goderich,* was ap- 
pointed to Mr. Vansittart' s place. Mr. Can- 
ning became Secretary-of-state for Foreign Af- 
fairs, on the death of Lord Castlereagh, which 
occurred soon after the latter succeeded to the 
title of Marquis of Londonderry. Mr. C. W. 
W". Wynn was made President of the Board 
of Control in place of Mr. Canning. Mr. 
Wallace, afterwards Lord Wallace, became 
Master of the Mint; and Mr. Huskisson, ap- 
pointed President of the Board of Trade, was 
called to a seat in the cabinet, his office not 
having before been of that rank. 

* Father of the present Marquis of Kipon, so prominent 
among the negotiators of the late Treaty of Washington, and 
so favorably remembered in the United States. 



Ill 



'6 1 8. COURT OF LONDON. 45 



til 



as u 



None of the new appointments were under- 

ood to have grown out of want of concord in 
le body. The policy, as the premiership of 
,ord Liverpool, was maintained. He was placed 
jjn that post by the Prince Regent, in 1812. 
Phe age and infirmities of the reigning monarch 
ad led Parliament two years before to establish 

regency in the person of the Prince of Wales, 
lie Regent found, and kept, Mr. Perceval at 
lie head of affairs, until he perished by assassi- 
ation. It was then that Lord Liverpool was 
ailed to the helm. History will view his ad- 
ainistration as one of renown to England. In 
be exertions of Europe against Napoleon from 
r 812 to 1815, the part which she acted by her 
.rms and resources is before the world. Both 
vere directed by this ministry, until the achieve- 
ment at Waterloo closed the momentous strug- 
gle. It was there that the Duke of Wellington, 
ifter numerous victories in India, in Portugal, 
n Spain, that had earned for him the reiterated 
.hanks of Parliament and applauses of the na- 
ion, ascended to the pinnacle of military glory. 
One of the English ministers, on entering the 
House of Commons, bearing in his hand the 
Treaties of Peace which the triumphant battles 
of this great commander had done so much to- 

ards securing, was enthusiastically cheered by 
all the members. It was a spontaneous burst 



\v 



46 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

of public joy. Party differences were forgotten! 
in deeds so overpowering. The same minister! 
— it was Lord Castlereagh — afterwards declared 
in one of his speeches, that the "British empire 
had twice dictated the Peace of Europe in the 
capital of France'' The fame of such deeds 
naturally established in the confidence of the 
British public, the ministry on whose banner 
they were inscribed. 

Lord Liverpool was not a person to lose 
confidence so acquired. Splendour of genius 
was not his characteristic; but among his 
talents was that of assembling able men around ' 
him. His cabinet was already strong, when, as 
we have seen, he enriched it with the names of 
Wellington, and Peel, and Robinson, and Hus- 
kisson ; lastly with that of Canning, whom he 
brought into the Foreign office, vacant by the 
sudden demise of a powerful incumbent. These, 
though differing in important points among 
each other, and from the Premier, remained in 
harmony under him as leader. Each was made 
efficient in his sphere, and the power of the 
whole augmented. If Lord Liverpool was not 
the ablest man of the body, he was essentially 
its head. With a sound judgment improved 
by public affairs, he was fitted for the business 
of a nation. What he did not take in by 
promptitude, he mastered by perseverance ; 






;*8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 47 

Jiot that he was deficient in the former, but 
hat he paused upon his first conclusions, 
pystematic and grave, educated in maxims 
ivhich he conscientiously approved, however 
)thers may have dissented from them ; cour- 
eous, yet inflexible ; with a personal character 
3minently pure, and a high reputation for 
)fEcial probity, his influence, as it rested upon 
practical qualities, went on to increase ; so that, 
luring the whole term of my residence, I never 
neard that a change of ministry was for one 
g noment seriously in contemplation. Such was 
\he Premier whom I found and left in power. 
fie enjoyed the entire confidence of his so- 
vereign ; and had the confidence of the coun- 
try to an extent that made him sure of his 
neasures in both Houses of Parliament. Such, 
jioo, was the ministry with which I was to con- 
duct negotiations, and all other business of my 
mission.* 

It was with a full sense of responsibility that 
|t entered upon its duties. I was sustained by 
-emembering who were at the head of my own 
Government. In President Monroe, his country 
recognized a patriot and sage. Time and long- 
service had consecrated his virtues and talents. 

* It cannot but be interesting to the student of English 
listory, to look back now, at this distance of time, to so long 
a continuance in power of any English Ministry. 



48 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

A chivalrous officer of the American Revolu- 
tion, his youthful blood had been poured out 
on the plains of Trenton. To the careful 
study of history and government, he added a 
participation in the business of legislative halls, 
and that of diplomacy, at home and abroad. 
Perfectly acquainted with the foreign policy 
of the United States as with their domestic 
concerns; elevated in all his principles; just, 
magnanimous, self-controlled, few countries 
ever possessed a chief magistrate better quali- 
fied to administer its affairs with wisdom, or 
more exempt from passions to mislead. First 
of his cabinet, as regarded every thing foreign, 
stood Mr. Secretary Adams ; a statesman of 
profound and universal knowledge. He had 
received the best education that Europe and 
his own country could bestow, and from early 
life been practised in public affairs. Minister 
at several of the Courts of Europe, favourable 
opportunities were before him of studying their 
policy, and a superior capacity enabled him to 
improve his opportunities. Thus gifted and 
trained as a statesman, he was equally the ac- 
complished scholar, fervent patriot, and pure 
and upright man. 

For the remainder of the Cabinet of the 
United States, there were Mr. Secretary Craw- 
ford of the Treasury department ; Mr. Secre- 



1; 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 49 

tary Calhoun of the War department ; Mr. 
Secretary Thompson, and afterwards Mr. Secre- 
tary Southard, of the Navy department; with 
Mr. Attorney-general Wirt ; men whose well- 
known abilities and experience gave further 
assurance to those in the foreign service of the 
country, that her interests would not be over- 
looked. Such were the counsels whence my 
instructions were to flow. Of this cabinet I 
;may add, that two of its members have since 
been called by the American People to the 
high posts of President and Vice President 
of the United States ; Mr. Secretary Adams 
to the former, Mr. Secretary Calhoun to the 
j latter. 



50 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 



CHAPTER V. ' 

LONDON EAST OF TEMPLE BAR. — LONDON NORTH OF 
OXFORD STREET. 

January 7, 1818. Went through Temple 
Bar into the city, in contradistinction to the 
West-end of London, always called town. Pass- 
ed along Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill, St. Paul's, 
Cheapside, the Poultry, Cornhill, and other 
streets in the direction of the Tower. Saw 
the Bank, Royal Exchange, Lord Mayor's 
house, Guildhall, India House, the Excise 
buildings. If I looked with any feeling of 
wonder on the throngs at the West-end, more 
cause is there for it here. The shops stand, 
side by side, for entire miles. The accumu- 
lation of things is amazing. It would seem 
impossible that there can be purchasers for 
them all, until you consider what multitudes 
there are to buy ; then, you are disposed to 
ask how the buyers can be supplied. In the 
middle of the streets, coal-waggons and others 
as large, carts, trucks, vehicles of every ^ort, 
loaded in every way, were passing. They were 






1 8 I 8 . COURT OF LONDON. 51 



in two close lines, reaching farther than the 
eye could see, going reverse ways. The horses 
come so near to the foot-pavement, which is 
crowded with people, that their hoofs, and the 
great wheels of the waggons, are only a few 
inches from them. In this manner the wdiole 
procession is in movement, with its compli- 
cated noise. It confounds the senses to be 
among it all. You would anticipate constant 
accidents ; yet they seldom happen. The fear 
of the law preserves order; moreover, the uni- 
versal sense of danger if order were violated, 
prevents its violation. I am assured that these 
streets present the same appearance every day 
in the year, except Sundays, when solitude 
reigns. I must notice as before the dress of 

| the people. A large proportion were of the 
working classes ; yet all were whole in their 
clothing : you could hardly see exceptions. 
All looked healthy ; the more to be remarked 
in parts of the city where they live in per- 
petual crowds by day, and sleep in confined 
places. The Custom House, and black forest 
of ships below London Bridge, I saw by a 

f glimpse: that was enough to show that the 
Thames was choked up with vessels and boats 
of every description, much after the manner 
that I beheld Cheapside and Fleet Street to be 
choked with vehicles that move on land. 

e2 



52 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

I went into two shops. One a silversmith's, 
that of Rundell and Bridge, on Ludgate Hill. 
Outside it is plain; you might pass by without 
noticing it ; but on entering, the articles of 
silver were piled in heaps, even on the floor. 
Going further into the building: the masses in- 
creased. In a room up-stairs, there was part 
of a dinner-service in course of manufacture. 
The cost of an entire service varied from thirty 
to fifty thousand pounds sterling, according to 
the number of pieces, and workmanship; some- 
times it was much higher. A candelabra for 
the middle of the table, had just been finished 
for a customer, at fourteen hundred pounds. 
A dress sword for another customer was shown ; 
the cost was four thousand guineas. Other 
specimens of luxury might be mentioned, in- 
cluding ambassadors' snuff-boxes of gold and 
diamonds. The proprietors were extremely 
civil ; for I gave trouble only from curiosity. 
If you purchase but a pin for a few shillings, 
they return thanks ; if you do not incline to 
take it away yourself, they readily send it home, 
no matter how far off. The other shop was 
Shepherd's, for cut-glass, near Charing Cross. 
There too I had civility from the proprietor. 
In place of speaking of his wares, I will relate 
what he said of the Emperor Alexander. His 
Imperial Majesty, it seems, when on his visit 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 53 

to England with the Allied Sovereigns, ho- 
noured his shop with a call. Pleased with his 
articles beyond any of the kind he had seen in 
Europe, he gave an order for a magnificent 
list for one of his palaces. The pieces arrived 
in St. Petersburgh. Immediately, a ukase is- 
sued, prohibiting the future importation of cut 
glass into Russia. Whether the Emperor most 
desired to encourage the home manufacture of 
so beautiful a ware, or enhance the gratifica- 
tion of his Imperial taste by keeping it ex- 
clusive, were questions that I had no right to 
propound. 

Of all the sights, the one in the middle of 
the streets, bespoke to me most of causes and 
effects. Being afterwards in Paris, I saw more 
of architectural beauty, at first ; more of bril- 
liancy. The Boulevards, the Palais Royal, the 
Rue de Rivoli, which looked into the Tuileries 
through golden-tipped palisades, and a few 
other places, were not to be matched by any 
thing I saw in London. But their compass 
was small, and soon exhausted. The space be- 
tween Northumberland House and Bishopsgate 
disclosed more of transportation, more of the 
operations that proclaim circulation of capital, 
more of all that laid at the roots of commerce 
at home and throughout the world, more of all 
that went to the prolific sources of riches and 



54 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

power, than I was able to discover in going 
about Paris, again and again, in every direction. 
I am aware how much larger London is than 
Paris ; but the bustle of business seemed to 
abound in the English metropolis, in a propor- 
tion tenfold greater than its superior size. 

January 19. — I have taken a house. It is 
situated in Marylebone parish, north of Ox- 
ford Road, as I hear the latter called by some, 
probably from its having been an open road 
within their recollection. Now, it is a street 
fully built up, and among the longest and 
widest in London. North of this street lies a 
part of the town different from any I have 
hitherto seen. The streets cross each other at 
right angles. All are of good width : some a 
hundred feet and more. Many of them, as 
Harley Street, Wimpole Street, Baker Street, 
Devonshire Place, Portland Place, and others, 
present long ranges of houses built with uni- 
formity, which gives them a metropolitan as- 
pect. Through some, you look, as through a 
vista, into the verdant scenery of the Regent's 
Park. This commences almost at the point 
where the buildings, which are lofty, end ; so 
that you seem to step at once into the country. 
An air of gloom hangs over these streets, from 
the dark brick of which most of the houses are 
built, or which coal smoke gives them ; the 



; l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 55 

case, I may add, more or less, with nearly every 
part of London. This part is quite secluded, 
if so I may speak of a town district of more 
than a hundred thousand inhabitants. You 
hear little noise beyond the rumble of equi- 
pages, beginning at two o'clock, abating in 
the evening and returning at midnight. Its 
quietness, and the number of ready-furnished 
houses to be hired in it, are probably the in- 
i ducements for its being much chosen by the 
foreign ambassadors for their residence. I 
found that the Russian, Austrian, and French 
Ambassadors, had here fixed their domiciles. 
Every house has its area enclosed with iron 
palisades. The front door-steps are all of 
brown stone, with iron railings topped with 
spikes ; so that the eye traced in all directions 
lines of this bristling iron-work. If you add, 
that on the broad pavements of flag, you perhaps 
saw nobodv before noon, unless a straggling 
servant in morning livery, or a butcher's boy 
with tray in hand, issuing here and there from 
an area, you have the main external character- 
istics of this region when first I beheld it. 
There is another town district, a mile or two 
east, made up of well-built streets about 
Russell Square, that had an aspect somewhat 
similar. It contained, I was told, another 
one hundred thousand inhabitants, London 



j 



50 EESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

dissected showing these various circles. " The 
entire metropolis," says Gibbon, in his memoirs, 
" is an astonishing and perpetual spectacle to 
the curious eye ; each taste, each sense, may 
be gratified by the variety of objects which 
will occur in the long circuit of a morning 
walk." 

Of the part I have been describing in its 
external aspect, I must notice the complexion 
within. A great many houses were to let, and 
I went through them. From the basement to 
the attics, everything had an air of comfort. 
The supply of furniture w 7 as full. The stair- 
cases were of white stone. The windows and 
beds in servants' rooms had curtains. No 
floor was without carpeting. In many in- 
stances libraries made part of the furniture to 
be rented with the houses — a beautiful part. 
The rents varied from four hundred to a thou- 
sand guineas a year. In some of the squares 
of the West-end, I learned, that the rent of 
a furnished house was sixty and sometimes 
eighty guineas a week. Houses of the first 
class, with the sumptuous furniture to suit, are 
not to be hired at all. These, belonging to the 
nobility or other opulent proprietors, are left 
in the care of servants when the owners are 
away. The house I took was in Baker Street, 
at a rent of four hundred and fifty guineas a- 



I 1818. COURT OF LONDON. 57 

year. The policy of my Government being to 
give to its public servants small salaries, the 
latter act but in unison with this policy, in 
having their establishments small. It is not 
for those honoured by being selected to serve 
jj the Republic abroad, to complain. Nor, with 
Uhe English, do I believe, that the conside- 
ration attaching to foreign ministers, is depen- 
dent upon the salaries they receive. However 
j large these may be, and sometimes are, in the 
persons of the representatives of the Imperial 
and Royal governments of Europe, they are 
still so much below the wealth of the home 
icircles of London, as to be no distinction, 
supposing distinction to be sought on that 
ground. The surpassing incomes in the home 
circles, and habits of expenditure, with the 
ample accommodations by which the many 
who possess them live surrounded, incline 
their possessors to regard such official strangers 
[as objects, rather than agents, of hospitality, 
lit may be otherwise in capitals on the Con- 
tinent ; but this is the general relationship 
which the diplomatic corps holds to society in 
London.* 

* Since the period here spoken of the salaries of the 
American diplomatic corps at most of the Courts of Europe, 
laud in most foreign countries, have been very much in- 
creased. 



58 RESIDENCE AT THE 



CHAPTER VI. 

dinner at lord castlereagh's. — members of the 
.diplomatic corps. — the first visit. — dinner at 
lord Westmoreland's. 



January 20, 1818. Dined with Mrs. Rush 
at Lord Castlereagh's. The company con- 
sisted of Lord and Lady Castlereagh, the 
Earl of Westmoreland, Lord Melville, Lord 
Mulgrave, Mr. Wellesley Pole, the Duke of 
Wellington, Lord Burghersh, the Ambassador 
of France and his Marchioness, the Austrian 
Ambassador, the Portuguese Ambassador and 
his Countess, the Minister Plenipotentiary 
from Bavaria, the Marquis Grimaldi of Sar- 
dinia, and a few others. Of the foregoing, 
some were strangers, to whom, as to myself, it 
was a first dinner. 

The invitation was for seven o'clock. Our 
names were announced by servants in the hall, 
and on the landings. The company had chiefly 
assembled when we arrived. All were in full 
black, under the court mourning for the Prin- 



8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 59 

less Charlotte. I am wrong — one lady was in 

yhite satin ! It would have been painfully 

Imbarrassing, but that her union of ease and 

[ignity enabled her, after the first suffusion, 

b turn her misfortune into a grace. Saluta- 

jions were in subdued tones, but cordial, and 

he hand given. Introductions took place at 

onvenient moments. Before eight, dinner 

/as announced. The dining-room was on the 

|Oor with the drawing-rooms. As we entered 

| through a door-way surrounded by a hang- 

)g curtain that drew aside, the effect was 

eautiful. A profusion of light fell upon the 

loth, and as everything else was of silver, the 

ishes covered, and wines hidden in ranges of 

lver coolers, the whole had an aspect of pure 

hite. Lord Castlereagh sat at the head. On 

is right was the lady of the French Ambas- 

idor, with whom, in going in, he had led the 

ay. Lady Castlereagh was on the side, half 

ay down. On her left, was the Duke of Wel- 

ngton, with whom she came in. Between the 

puke and the Earl of Westmoreland, was my 

life, who came in upon the arm of the latter. 

Opposite, was the lady of the Portuguese Am- 

assador. She entered with the French Am- 

assador, and sat next to him. I was between 

lords Melville and Mulgrave. The former 

ratified me by the manner in which he spoke 



60 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

of the United States ; the latter by what he 
said of President Monroe, who was Minister in 
England when he was Secretary for Foreign 
Affairs. He had ever found him, he said, con 
ciliatory in business, while steadfast in his 
duty. Being near to these two noblemen in 
coming in, I paused to give place, having un 
derstood that Cabinet Ministers preceded Mi- 
nisters Plenipotentiary on these occasions ; but 
they declined it, and I went first ; Lord Mel- 
ville remarking, " We are at home." There 
appeared to be at least a dozen servants ; the 
superior ones not in livery. 

The general topics related to France, and 
French society. The foreigners spoke Eng- 
lish ; nevertheless, the conversation was nearly 
all in French. This was not only the case 
when the English addressed the foreigners, but 
in speaking to each other. Before dinner, I 
had observed in the drawing-room, books lying 
about. As many as I glanced at were French, 
I thought of the days of Charles II. when the 
tastes of the English all ran upon the model 
of France. Here, at the house of an English 
minister of state, French literature, the French 
language, French topics were all about me ; 
I add, French entrees, French wines. I was 
unwilling to believe that the parallel to the 
days of Charles II. held throughout. By my 



r k8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 61 

onger residence in England I discovered, that 
he enlightened classes were more ready to 
] *opy from the French what they thought good, 
pan the same classes in France to copy from 
England. As regards language, the difference 
Is striking. There is scarcely a well-educated 
person in England who does not speak French, 
ivhile thousands among the best educated in 
France are ignorant of English. In the com- 
petition between these great nations, this gives 
England an advantage. It is no answer that 
French is the language of intercourse in Eu-, 
-ope : the Frenchman may repose upon this, 
)|? or not acquiring the English ; but it cannot 
<;:ake from Englishmen the advantage of being 
at home in both tongues. Equally have the 
English the advantage in travel. The)?" go in 
great numbers to France; while few of the 
French, comparatively speaking, visit England. 
Soon after nine, the ladies left table. Before 
ten, the gentlemen followed. The company 
broke into knots, or loitered through the draw- 
ing-rooms. In one, was a full-length likeness 
of the Prince Regent, by Lawrence ; in ano- 
ther, the celebrated portrait of Charles I. by 
Vandyck, presenting three views of his face ; 
scattered about in all, were articles of vertu 
or munificence. Of the latter, were vases of 
massive porcelain and other memorials, sent as 



62 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8, 

presents to Lord Castlereagh by the crowned 
heads of Europe, after the treaties of Paris and 
Vienna. I had now conversation for which 
opportunities had not before offered. The 
Austrian Ambassador told me, that his court 
had appointed Baron Sturmer, Consul-General 
to the United States. He said, that it was the 
wish of his court to cultivate amicable relations 
with the United States ; the more, as foreign 
commerce had become an object with Austria. 
I replied, that my Government would receive 
the information with satisfaction. This was 
the first public officer sent by Austria to the 
United States, and laid the foundation of com- 
mercial relations that had not before subsisted 
between the two nations. I remarked, that the 
commerce of Austria appeared to be doing well 
in the Black Sea. " For a beginning," he re- 
plied. I added a hope, that the flag of the 
United States might find admittance into that 
sea ; but it was a point on which he was not 
prepared to speak. To Lord Castlereagh, I 
expressed the pleasure I had derived from 
making the acquaintance of his guests; amongst 
them, the Duke of Wellington. He spoke of 
the Duke. He said that his achievements in 
war were known ; but that his ability in council, 
his caution, his conciliation in dealing with the 
complicated arrangements of the Continent 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 63 

that had followed his battles, were not so much 
known; these formed not less a part of his 
character, and had gained for him, perhaps in 

i a higher degree than centered in any other 
individual in Europe, the confidence of its 

I cabinets and sovereigns. 

Before parting, his Lordship said, that the 
Prince Regent would probably be in town by 

jtbe middle of February, and that I might then 
expect my audience of reception. 

At eleven, I came away. The servants were 

' at their stations, and passed the call for my 
carriage, as when we were announced ; forms 
observed towards all. 

Having here, for the first time, met some of 
the diplomatic corps, I will subjoin the names 

I of those who composed it, whilst I was in 
England. There was entire cordiality in the 
intercourse of its members. The period was 
one of peace. No acts transpired among 
nations, tending to abridge the harmony of 

I private life among their representatives. 

From France, there was the Marquis D'Os- 
mond, among the best specimens of the old 
French court. From Russia, Count, afterwards 
Prince Lieven ; from Austria, Prince Ester- 

[jhazy; from Prussia, Baron Humboldt, brother 
and rival in genius to the celebrated traveller ; 
from the Netherlands, Baron Fagel, a name 



[ 

64 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

known in his country's history; from Spain, 
the Duke of San Carlos; from Portugal, Count, 
afterwards Marquis Palmella, maintaining un- 
der all vicissitudes, his reputation for abilities. 
These were Ambassadors. The chief difference 
between the ambassador and minister plenipo- 
tentiary, in common speech often confounded, 
is, that the former is viewed as representing 
the person of his sovereign. In that capacity, 
he takes precedence in matters of form. He 
has also exaltation, personally, in various ways. 
For every national end, the attributes of the 
minister plenipotentiary are the same.* 

France changed her ambassador four times. 
She sent, after the departure of the Marquis 
D'Osmond, the Marquis de la Tour Mauberg, 
the Duke de Cazes, Viscount Chateaubriand, 
and Prince Polignac. The first was the cele- 
brated cavalry officer, not more known by his 
powers as a commander, than his gallant ex- 
ploits in battle, particularly at Leipsic, where 

* This difference could hardly have been within the con- 
templation of the Constitution of the United States,, wherein 
the President is empowered to appoint, by and with the 
advice and consent of the Senate, "Ambassadors, other 
public Ministers and Consuls." There may be, and, perhaps, 
are, reasons of expediency for not sending Ambassadors 
from the United States, though they did it in the mightiest 
days of the Eoman Republic — again and again, but there is 
nothing in the American Constitution to prevent it. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 65 

he lost a leg. His manly form thus maimed, 
was doubly interesting by his habitually ami- 
able manners. The second, was the distin- 
guished Minister of the Interior under Louis 
XVIII. and at that time head of the French 
administration. The third, was the brilliant 
author of * France/ — an author admired by the 
world ; who brings at all times to his page, the 
most eloquent and touching reflections, whe- 
ther writing from the deep shades of American 
forests, from classic Italy, or the sacred banks 
of the Jordan ; who gives elevation to party 
strife, investing with instructive and elegant 
generalities, what in feebler hands degenerates 
into common details or mere personality. The 
fourth, was the same who was afterwards Pre- 
sident of the Council and Prime-minister under 
Charles X. He was fatally conspicuous in the 
revolution of July 1830; but to his personal 
accomplishments and worth all bore testimony. 
The Netherlands changed her's once, sending, 
in place of Baron Fagel, called to the home 
service, Mr. Falcke, whose activity in the cause 
of Holland has been witnessed at dates more 
recent. Prussia sent Baron Werter in place 
of Baron Humboldt ; the latter also called to 
the home service. Spain substituted the Duke 
de Frias for the Duke of San Carlos ; and 
afterwards sent Mr. Onis (as minister plenipo- 

F 



66 RESIDENCE AT THE -1818. 

tentiary) in the time of the constitutional 
government of the Cortes. From Portugal, 
Count Villa Real succeeded the Marquis Pal- 
mella, Mr. Olivera interposing (as minister ple- 
nipotentiary) for a short interval, in the time of 
the constitutional government of that country. 
The Ministers Plenipotentiary were Count 
Munster, from Hanover; Mr. Bourke, from 
Denmark; Baron Stierneld, from Sweden; 
Baron Just, from Saxony ; Mr. Pfeffel, from 
Bavaria ; Count Ludolf, from Naples ; Count 
D'Aglie, from Sardinia, The only change in 
this order was from Denmark, in the person of 
Count Moltke, for Mr. Bourke. The former 
was accompanied by his Countess, an accession 
to the English as to any Court. Italy had her 
season of constitutional governments, as Spain 
and Portugal ; but the Austrian troops over- 
turned them too rapidly to afford time to 
Sardinia or Naples to new-model their diplo- 
macy. France marched her army across the 
Bidassoa more slowly, but not less decisively. 
She too overturned constitutional government 
in Spain ; an attack upon national independ- 
ence, which Britain, in her state papers and 
parliamentary speeches, officially disapproved, 
without resisting, and which the friends of 
freedom in both hemispheres joined in de- 
ploring. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. G7 

There were two Ministers Resident, an order 
below Ministers Plenipotentiary: Baron Langs- 
dorff, from Baden ; Mr. Haller, from Switzer- 
land. There was a Charge-d'affaires from Wir- 
temburg, Mr. Wagner ; who was succeeded by 
Count Mandelsloh ; and one from Constanti- 
nople, Mr. Ramadani. The latter, on official 
occasions, appeared in his robes and turban ; a 
dress not more in contrast with all that sur- 
rounded him, than the institutions of his coun- 
try with those of Christendom. The creden- 
tials of diplomatic agents of this class are to 
the Secretary of State for Foreign affairs, not 
the Sovereign. When Mr. Canning became 
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in the fourth year 
of my residence, plenipotentiaries arrived from 
three of the new states of Spanish America ; 
Mr. Hurtado from Columbia ; General Mi- 
chelena from Mexico, and Mr. Rividavia from 
Buenos Ayres. 

The embassies of the great powers were 
amply provided with secretaries, and had per- 
sons attached to them in other capacities. The 
entire aggregate made a large body. Not large 
when compared with the embassies of other 
times. Sully brought to England a retinue of 
1 two hundred gentlemen. Bassompierre, still 
earlier, speaks of an i( equipage of four hundred 
persons' returning with him to France. The 

r 2 






68 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 1 8. 

former, on reaching London, was saluted with 
three thousand guns from the Tower. So, D'Es- 
trades, ambassador to the States General from 
Louis XIV. tells us, that he was met at Rys- 
wick by the Deputies, with a train of threescore 
coaches. Compliments so profuse have wisely 
gone out of date. 

But, in all affairs, forms prevail. Govern- 
ments never dispense with them. Having men- 
tioned the members of the diplomatic corps, I 
will allude to some of the forms that regu- 
lated their intercourse. Once, the uncertainty 
of these led to difficulties, even wars. The 
congress of Vienna, in 1815, extirpated them 
all, as far as questions of precedence were con- 
cerned ; and these had been found the most 
serious. It declared that every question of 
that nature should be settled by the rule of 
time. He who has been longest at a court or 
government, is to be first. The relative power 
of the nation he represents, is to count no- 
thing. This is a rule satisfactory to small 
states. It is to the praise of large ones, that 
they established it. It applies to all intercourse 
where competition can arise, whether in busi- 
ness or ceremony ; and therefore regulates 
visits. The member of the corps who has last 
arrived pays the first. The rule does not over- 
leap classes, applying only to those of the same 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 69 

class. Its propriety has commanded universal 
assent. Under its operation, we shall hear no 
more of personal rudenesses, no disturbances 
of the public decorum, no cutting of traces that 
one ambassador's coach may whip up before 
another; none of the acts, ill-adapted to such 
functionaries, of which we catch the glimmer- 
ings, sometimes the details, in Finett, Digges, 
Melville, D'Estrades, Wiquefort ; even in the 
later pages of Segur, much as his own good 
sense discountenanced them. The treaty of 
Westphalia tried to put a stop to these con- 
tentions by fixing the relative rank of the prin- 
cipal powers of Europe ; but in vain. That of 
Utrecht had the same aim, in introducing the 
title of Minister Plenipotentiary, the conten- 
tions before being: confined to ambassadors. 
In vain also. It was reserved for the rule of 
Vienna, aided by modern manners, at last to 
get rid of what had so often proved a hin- 
drance to public business and injurious to in- 
dividual concord. Although the United States 
had no agency in making that rule, their mi- 
nister shared its benefits.* 

But, as far as visits are concerned, it has 
turned out, that the certainty of the rule leads 

* The author remained so long at the British Court, nearly 
eight years, as to become gradually invested with precedence, 
under this rule, over all the other Ministers Plenipotentiary. 



70 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

to its being frequently disregarded. In obedi- 
ence to it I was prepared to pa3^ the first visit to 
nil the members of the corps who had arrived 
before me. But, from several, I had the favour 
of calls by anticipation, as was common in 
other cases. Fortunate change ! when the 
strife of courtesy has supplanted hostile strife. 

The right of precedence in treaties is of a 
different nature. These solemn instruments 
are executed in double original. This gives 
to each nation the opportunity of being named 
first, and signing first, in the treaty to be de- 
posited in its own archives. Such is the rule 
as between the United States and foreign pow- 
ers. Formerly it was not so. In the time of 
President Madison, an occasion arising where 
the representative of a monarchy questioned 
the principle of coequality in the United States 
on the asserted ground of Republics being of 
secondary dignity, the rule was established and 
has since been adhered to. 

January 31. Dined at the Earl of West- 
moreland's, at his residence, Grosvenor Square. 
Forms were as at Lord Castlereagh's. The 
party was small — Sir John and Lady Ann 
Becket, Mr. and Mrs. Patterson of Baltimore, 
the Danish Minister, and some of the members 
of Lord Westmoreland's family. The cheer- 
ful manner of his lordship promoted conversa- 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 71 

tion. Much of it related to England. Duel- 
ling was spoken of. Lord Westmoreland said, 
that among private gentlemen in England it 
was very rare ; that if a person from this class 
had been engaged in a duel, and applied for 
admission to a club, there would be a scrutiny; 
and unless it appeared that he was not quar- 
j relsome, he would be in danger of rejection ; 
but that if he had been engaged in two, he 
|| believed he would be black-balled. His lord- 
! ship did not condemn duelling. He only 
meant that the occasions of it in private life 
! were so few in classes where proper restraints 
ij existed, that he whose misfortune it was to 
I have had two duels on his hands, would find 
gentlemen shy of him as an associate in such 
j institutions. It was upon this he grounded 
his opinion. The urbanity of our courteous 
host made the evening very pleasant. It was 
not until a late hour that we got home. 



72 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 



CHAPTER VII. 

INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH. — SLAVE QUESTION 
UNDER THE TREATY OF GHENT. — NORTH-WESTERN 
BOUNDARY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND BRITISH 
POSSESSIONS. — POST AT THE MOUTH OF COLUMBIA 
RIVER, 

February 1, 1818. Had an interview with 
Lord Castlereagh. 

He began about the slaves; expressing the 
readiness he would ever feel in endeavouring 
to bring to a satisfactory close all points in 
dispute between the two countries. In this 
spirit he had laid before the Cabinet my pro- 
posal of the 3rd of January upon this subject; 
and had to inform me that it would be accede i 
to. But, as the treaty of Ghent had led to 
the proposal, the assent would be under the 
rules which that treaty had fixed in relation 
to other points. That to this end, he was 
prepared to give effect, substantially, to my 
proposal, by saying, that his Government was 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 73 

willing that the question about the slaves 
should also go before commissioners ; and in 
the event of their not concurring, that resort 
should be had to an umpire, as prescribed by 
the fourth and subsequent articles of the treaty 
in reference to territorial claims. That an 
article between the two Governments, supple- 
mental to the treaty, might be requisite to give 
the proper authority for this proceeding. That 
as regarded the commissioners, his Government 
had no objections to devolving the service upon 
some of those already appointed under the 
treaty, unless mine should wish new appoint- 
I ments ; that, in short, the whole machinery of 
that instrument should be adopted, in settling 
the conflict of opinion about the slaves. 

Finishing upon this point, he went to ano- 
ther. The present, he said, appeared to be a 
favourable time for putting in train for settle- 
ment, claims to territory, other than those com- 
I prehended in the treaty of Ghent. That it 
| belonged to forecast, to aim at extinguishing, 
in a friendly way, seeds of future controversy, 
while the subjects were of no great present 
importance, but liable to become so in future. 
Such considerations led him to hope that the 
Government of the United States would not 
be disinclined to measures having in view the 
final settlement of that part of the North- 



74 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 1 8. 

western boundary line contemplated in the old 
treaty between the two countries of 1783; he 
meant, the line from the most North-western 
point of the lake of the woods to the Missis- 
sippi. Accordingly, he had to say, that the adop- 
tion of measures for accomplishing this object 
would be highly acceptable to the British Go- 
vernment. The treaty of Ghent, he thought, 
would form a guide equally convenient for ful- 
filling the intentions of the parties in this in- 
stance also. Should his proposal be acquiesced 
in, another supplemental article might be add- 
ed to the treaty, to give it effect, and new com- 
missioners be appointed; or, as before suggested, 
those already appointed, perform the duty. 

Lastly, he came to the affair of the post at 
Columbia river. A despatch from Mr. Bagot, 
he said, had informed the British Government 
that the United States were about to take pos- 
session of that post, by sending out an armed 
ship ; and he had to express the regret felt at 
the measure, It was to have been wished, he 
remarked, that, before the ship sailed, notice 
had been given to his Majesty's Minister in 
VYashington of her destination, Great Britain 
having a claim of dominion over that territory. 
He proceeded to inform me, that Mr. Bagot 
had sent in a remonstrance upon the occasion ; 
to which, at the last dates, no answer had been 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 75 

;received. He closed by saying, that it was the 
desire of his Government to submit a proposal 
that the question of title to this territory 
should, as in the two other cases, go before 
commissioners, and be governed in all other 
respects by the precedent of the treaty of 
Ghent ; annexing to it a third supplemental 
article as the groundwork of contingent arbi- 
tration before some friendly sovereign. 

To his proposals and remarks I made such 
replies as they seemed to call for ; and first 
as to the post on the Columbia. Nothing, I 
told him, could exceed the concern I felt at 
jour act being viewed in the light presented by 
him, and nothing could have been less expect- 
ed. The grounds upon which England claimed 
dominion, were unknown to me ; but granting 
that she had a claim, was the lawfulness of the 
step taken by the United States to be ques- 
tioned? That the post was in their possession 
before the war of 1812 w r as admitted ; and 
also, that it had fallen by capture into the 
hands of Britain during the war. How then 
limder a treaty of peace, the first article of 
which stipulated the mutual restitution of all 
places reduced by the arms of either party, 
was our right to restitution to be impeached ? 
I mentioned the cases of Nootka Sound and 
Falkland Islands. In these, Great Britain, 



76 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

under circumstances far less strong, had as- 
serted the principle of which we claimed the 
benefit. 

Lord Castlereao-h admitted our rig-ht to resti- 
tution, and our claim to be in possession, when 
negotiations for the title were going on. But 
the manner of obtaining it, he said, was to be 
lamented, from its possible tendency to inter- 
rupt the harmony subsisting between the two 
countries. He sincerely hoped it would not 
have that effect, and added, that to forestall all 
risk as far as he could, he had addressed a note 
to the Lords of the Admiralty, and one to 
Lord Bathurst as charged with colonial affairs, 
desiring that prompt orders might be issued 
for preventing all hostile collision, either at 
the post, or with British ships in its vicinity. 
He took from his files, copies of these notes, 
and read them to me. 

I said, that although it was scarcely to be 
expected that I could yet have received official 
information respecting the measure, and al- 
though, in fact, none had reached me, I was 
entirely confident that it had originated in no 
unfriendly feeling. Nor was it believed that 
any thing essentially due to Great Britain had 
been omitted. It had so happened, I remark- 
ed, that I had some knowledge myself of the 
intentions of my Government at the time the 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 77 

measure was projected, which enabled me with 
the less scruple to speak as I did. I left 
Washington, it was true, before the departure 
of the ship ; but felt sure that there could 
have been no alteration in the views that had 
suggested her voyage to those seas; and, above 
all, I knew that the employment of force as a 
means of reinstating ourselves under the treaty, 
had in no wise been in contemplation. 

These assurances appeared to have the pro- 
per influence in placing the transaction in its 
true lights. The post came peaceably into our 
possession, and the case was not subsequently 
revived as one of complaint. 

As regarded the North-western boundary 
line, I remarked, that this subject had no place 
: in my instructions. An article to the effect of 
his proposal, had once been inserted in a con- 
vention between the two Governments, but 
expunged by that of the United States. The 
i ground of objection was, that the only line 
that could be run in the direction proposed 
! under the treaty of 1783, would not, as had 
'been ascertained since the date of the treaty, 
I strike the Mississippi; and to run it lower down 
would bring it through territory within the 
limits of the United States. Great Britain 
j was free to renew the proposal ; all that I 
could do, would be to transmit it to my Go- 



78 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

vernment, and it would be for his lordship to 
judge how far the past rejection, with its un- 
changed ground, was discouraging to another 
attempt. 

Finally, as to the slaves. I said, that I had 
no authority to assent to the proposal as mo- 
dified from that of my predecessor, which I 
had done nothing more than renew. That 
much anxiety continued to exist on this sub- 
ject in the United States, as might be inferred 
from the late resolution in the Senate, sub- 
mitted by Mr. Troup, from Georgia ; and that 
the fact of each Government having adhered to 
its own construction of the treaty on this point, 
afforded little presage of a concurrence in opi- 
nion by commissioners chosen by each. Still, 
I had every reason to think that the President 
would view as friendly, the principle of the 
proposal ; for whilst it did hold out a prelimi- 
nary step of no very probable efficacy, it came 
at last to our own overture. I would gladly 
therefore transmit it for The President's con- 
sideration, assuming, as I did, that this subject 
of compensation for slaves would be acted upon 
by itself, in the event of obstacles being found 
to lie in the way of the two others. 

To this his lordship did not yield his assent. 
He hoped that I presupposed an imaginary 
case, abstaining in this way from a positive 






l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 79 

refusal at first. He afterwards, in effect, em- 
bodied one in the remark, that as each Go- 
vernment had objects of its own in view, the 
three propositions ought, in his opinion, to be 
classed together, awaiting a common assent 
or rejection. I combated this doctrine. The 
carrying off of the slaves involved a case of 
palpable injury, and, as we also contended, of 
wrong; one that brought loss to all, and ruin 
to some of the proprietors. The fundamental 
laws of The Union guaranteed to our Southern 
planters as sure a property in their slaves, as 
in their houses and lands ; and as well might 
the two last be taken from them as the first. 
The two other propositions rested upon an- 
cient, undefined claims ; not pressing in their 
nature, or any of their consequences. The 
case of the slaves, moreover, sprang out of the 
treaty of Ghent, and was peculiarly entitled to 
the benefit of its equitable example in settling 
controversies. The other two subjects were 
wholly extrinsic. Whatever rights or expecta- 
tions might even justly be coupled with them 
by Great Britain, it seemed proper that they 
should stand upon independent ground. Such, 
it seemed to me, were the distinctions involved. 
But I perceived no change in what were at 
least his lordship's first impressions, that the 
three questions ought to be dealt with in the 



80 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

same way. The interview was extended to 
much length, and closed by his saying, that as 
all the proposals proceeded from his Govern- 
ment, they would be forwarded to Mr. Bagot 
for the information of mine, in addition to the 
communication of them made to me.* 

* Now that Slavery has ceased to exist in the United 
States, it may seem strange to another generation, that the 
very first subject which the American Minister was instructed 
to bring to the notice of the British Government, on his 
arrival in England in 1818, was a claim by American citizens 
for compensation for slaves ! (See ante p. 32.) Yet such 
are the changes which time produces. Proud as we are of 
our English ancestry, our kindred English friends will do 
us the justice to remember that the system, now at an end, 
did not originate with us ! It originated in 1620, in the early 
colonial period of American history, more than a century and 
and a half before the Declaration of American Independence, 
during which time slaves in large numbers were imported 
from Africa into the American Colonies. Nor was the im- 
portation confined to the Southern Colonies. Very soon after 
the establishment of the United States as an Independent 
Nation, the Convention which formed the Constitution of the 
United States proceeded to the consideration of the slave 
trade, against which further traffic, there had been loud 
remonstrances in Virginia by the people in their primary 
assemblies, whilst still colonists, with Washington at their 
head. Finally the year 1808 was adopted by the Convention 
as the period for the cessation of the trade. 

See an interesting review of this portion of American History in an 
address before the Society of the Alumni of the University of Vir- 
ginia, July 1, 1869, by William C. Eives, Jun., an address marked by 
large information and liberal sentiments ; the more striking, from the 
gratifying prospect exhibited of the returning prosperity of Virginia. 






l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 81 



CHAPTER VIII. 

EECEPTION BY THE PEINCE REGENT. — THE LEYEE. — 
THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

February 9, 1818. Received a note from 
Lord Castlereagh informing; me that the Prince 
Regent had appointed Thursday the 12th, for 
my reception, at Carlton House, at a quarter 
past two, previous to the levee. 

February 12. Had my reception. A com- 
petent knowledge of the world may guide any 
one in the common walks of life ; more es- 
pecially if he carry with him the cardinal 
maxim of good-breeding in all countries — a 
wish to please and unwillingness to offend. 
But if, even in private society, there are rules 
not to be known but by experience, and if 
these differ in different places, I could not feel 
insensible to the approach of an occasion so 
new. My first desire was, not to fail in the 
public duties of my mission. The next, to 
pass properly through the scenes of official 
and personal ceremony to which it exposed 

G 



1 



82 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

me. At the head of them, was my introduc- 
tion to the Sovereign. I desired to do all 
that full respect required, but not more : yet 
— the external observances — what were they ? 
They defy exact definition beforehand, and I 
had never seen them. From the restraints, 
too, that prevail in these spheres, lapses, if 
you fall into them, are little apt to be told to 
you ; which increases your solicitude to avoid 
them. I had, in some of my intercourse 
caught the impression, that simplicity was con ! 
sidered best adapted to such an introduction ; 
also, that the Prince Regent was not thought 
to be fond of set speeches. This was all that 
I could collect. But simplicity, all know, is 
a relative idea. Often it is attainable, in the 
right sense, only through the highest art. 

I arrived before the hour appointed. My 
carriage having the entree, or right to the pri- 
vate entrance, I went through St. James's 
Park and got to Carlton House by the paved 
way, through the gardens. Even this ap- 
proach was already filled. I was set down 
at a side-door, where stood servants in the 
Prince's livery. Gaining the hall, persons 
were seen in different costumes. Among them 
yeomen of the guard, with halberds. They 
had hats of velvet, with wreaths round them, 
and rosettes in their shoes. In the court- 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 83 

3'ard, which opened through the columns of 
the portico, bands of music were heard. Car- 
riages, in a stream, were approaching by this 
access, through the double gates that separate 
the royal residence from the street. The 
company arriving this way, entered through 
the portico, and turned off to the right. I 
went to the left, through a vestibule, leading 
to other rooms, into which none went but 
those having the entree. They consisted of 
cabinet ministers, the diplomatic corps, per- 
sons in chief employment about the court, and 
a few others, the privilege being in high es- 
teem. Knights of the Garter appeared to have 
it, for I observed their insignium round the 
knee of several. There was the Lord Steward 
with his badge of office ; the Lord Chamber- 
lain with his ; also, gold stick, and silver stick. 
The foreign ambassadors and ministers wore 
their national costumes ; the cabinet ministers, 
such as we see in old portraits, with bag and 
sword. The Lord Chancellor, and other func- 
tionaries of the Law, had black silk gowns, 
with full wigs. The bishops and dignitaries 
of the Church, had aprons of black silk. The 
walls were covered with paintings. If these 
were historical, so were the rooms. As I 
looked through them, I thought of the scenes 
in Doddington ; of the Pelhams, the Boling- 

G 2 



84 RESIDENCE AT THE 1 8 I 8. 

brokes, the Hillsboroughs. The Prince had 
not left his apartment. Half-an-hour went by, 
when Sir Robert Chester, Master of Ceremo- 
nies, said to me, that in a few minutes he 
would conduct me to the Prince. The Spanish 
Ambassador had gone in, and I was next in 
turn. When he came out, the Master of the 
Ceremonies advanced with me to the door. 

Opening it, he left me. I entered alone. 
The Prince was standing ; Lord Castlereagh 
* by him. No one else was in the room. Hold- 
ing in my hand the letter of credence, I ap- 
proached, as to a private gentleman, and said, 
that it was " from the President of the United 
" States, appointing me their Envoy Extraor- 
" dinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the 
" Court of his Royal Highness ; and that I 
" had been directed by the President to say, 
" that I could in no way better serve thf Uni- 
"ted States, or gain his approbation, than by 
" using all my endeavours to strengthen and 
" prolong the good understanding that happily 
" subsisted between the two Countries." The 
Prince took the letter, and handed it to Lord 
Castlereagh. He then said, that he would 
"ever be ready on his part to act upon the 
" sentiments I had expressed ; that I might 
" assure the President of this, for that he sin- 
" cerely desired to keep up and improve the 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 85 

" friendly relations subsisting between the two 
" nations, which he regarded as so much to the 
"advantage of both." I replied, that I would 
not fail to do so. 

The purpose of the interview seeming to be 
accomplished, I had supposed it would here 
end, and was about to withdraw ; but the 
Prince prolonged it. He congratulated me on 
my arrival. He inquired for the health of Mr. 
Adams, and spoke of others who had preceded 
me in the mission, going back as far as the first 
Mr. Pinckney. Of him, and Mr. King, his 
inquiries were minute. He made others, which 
it gave me still more pleasure to answer — he 
asked if I knew the ladies from my country, 
then in England, who had made such favour- 
able impressions, naming Mrs. Patterson, and 
the Miss Catons. I replied that I did, and 
responded to His Royal Highness's gratifying 
notice of these my fair countrywomen. A few 
more remarks on the climate of the two 
countries closed the audience.* 

* These three American ladies afterwards became the 
Duchess of Leeds, the Marchioness of Wellesley, and Lady 
Stafford. They were all very attractive, and distinguished 
for native dignified ease and grace. One was remarkably 
handsome, and of the most winning manners. They were 
the grand-daughters of the venerable Charles Carroll, of 
Carrollton, his country scat in Maryland, who was one of 
the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence, 



6 



86 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

It would be out of place in me to portray 
the exterior qualities of this monarch. The 

and who died in 1832, at the age of past ninety, having long 
been known in the United States by the distinguishing title 
of (: The last Surviving Signer." 

They grew up in Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, of 
which place the author's wife (Miss Catherine Eliza Murray, 
a descendant of the Elibank Family, of Scotland) who was 
one of their early companions, was also a native. It may, 
perhaps, be added that nowhere in the United States did 
there prevail, at that time, a higher tone of sentiments and 
manners, and nowhere was there a more attractive circle, 
than at the seat of government of Maryland. 

Perhaps an anecdote may here be mentioned which the 
writer had from an authentic source. 

At a small dinner many years afterwards at the King's 
(then William IV.), a gentleman of the company was dis- 
posed to a little pleasantry with one of those accomplished 
sisters, who was at table, on account of her nationality, and 

at length said, ' ' Now do pray tell us, Lady , do you 

" come from that part of America where they guess, or where 
" they calculate ?" " She comes from neither," said the 
King, slowly, immediately interrupting him, "she comes 
" from that part of America where they fascinate. 3 ' 

The graceful allusion by the Prince Regent, to those 
ladies, to a newly arrived American Minister, here recorded, 
on the occasion of his first introduction to him, — ladies so 
descended,— recalls the well known remark of George III. to 
the elder Adams, on his first introduction to that monarch in a 
similar capacity soon after the close of the American Revo- 
lutionary War, viz,, that as he had been the last man in 
his dominions to recognize the Independence of the United 
States, so he was happy to be the first to welcome their 
newly arrived Envoy, 

The Adams Family has been hitherto, by far the most 
distinguished, politically, of any in America. John, the 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 87 

commanding union of them has often been a 
theme in his own dominions. He was then in 
his 56th year; but in fine health, and main- 
taining the erect, ambitious, carriage of early 
life. TheEnvoy extraordinary and minister 
plenipotentiary from Sicily and Naples, had 
his reception immediately afterwards. 

When the Prince came from his apartment, 
called in the language of palaces his closet, into 
the entree rooms, I presented to him Mr. John 
Adams Smith, as public secretary of the lega- 
tion, and Mr. Ogle Tayloe, as attached to it 
personally. Other special presentations took 
place ; amongst them, that of the Prince of 
Hesse Homberg, by Lord Stewart, both dis- 
tinguished in the then recent battles of the 
Continent. The Prince Regent moved about 
these rooms, until he had addressed every- 
body; all waiting his salutation. Doors hitherto 
shut, now opened, when a new scene appeared. 

"Elder Adams/' and his son, John Quincy, the " Younger 
Adams/' each known as such in American history, each 
occupied successively the post of President of the United 
States, the former having been also a Signer of the Declara- 
tion of Independence, and one of its most fearless and able 
advocates. Each was also Minister from the United States 
to England, as was, until recently, Charles Francis Adams, 
son of John Quincy, one of the best fitted men, in every 
respect, by whom the United States could have been repre- 
sented during the trying epoch, from 1861 to 1868, of his 
residence at the British Court. 



88 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

You beheld in other rooms the company that 
had turned off to the right. The opening of 
the doors was the signal for the commence- 
ment of the general levee. I remained with 
others to see it. All passed, one by one, 
before the Prince, each receiving a momentary 
salutation. To a few he addressed conversa- 
tion, but briefly ; as it stopped the line. All 
were in rich costume. Men of genius and 
science were there. The nobility were nume- 
rous ; so were the military. There were from 
forty to fifty generals ; perhaps as many admi- 
rals, with throngs of officers of rank inferior. 
I remarked upon the number of wounded. 
Who is that, I asked, pallid but with a coun- 
tenance so animated? "That's General 
Walker/ 9 I was told, " he was pierced with 
bayonets, leading on the assault at Badajos" 
And he, close by, tall but limping? " Colonel 
Ponsonby ; he was left for dead at Waterloo; 
the cavalry it was thought had trampled upon 
him." Then came one of like port, but deprived 
of a leg, slowly moving ; and the whisper went, 
u That's Lord AngleseaT A fourth had been 
wounded at Seringapatam; a fifth at Talavera; 
some had suffered in Egypt; some in America. 
There were those who had received scars on 
the deck with Nelson ; others who had carried 
them from the days of Howe. One, yes one. 



l3l8. COURT OF LONDON. 89 

had fought at Saratoga.* It was so that ray 
inquiries were answered. Each " did his 
duty ;" this was the favourite praise bestowed. 
The great number of wounded was accounted 
for by recollecting, that little more than two 
years had elapsed since the armies and fleets 
of Britain had been liberated from wars of 
extraordinary fierceness and duration in all 
parts of the globe. For, so it is, other nations 
chiefly fight on or near their own territory ; 
the English everywhere. 

Taking the whole line, perhaps a thousand 
must have passed. Its current flowed through 
the entree rooms, got onward to the vestibule, 
and was finally dispersed in the great hall. 
Those who composed it, found themselves 
there, by a course reverse to that of their 
entrance ; and went away through the portico, 
as their carriages came up. 

The whole ceremony lasted until past five. 
When it was over, I called upon each member 
of the Royal Family; a mark of respect omitted 
by no foreign minister after beino; received by 
the Sovereign. The call is made by inscribing 
your name in books kept at their several re- 
sidences. The royal family were, of the male 

* In tlie American Revolutionary War. Xow a place of 
great resort in the summer, "by people from all parrs of 
America, on account of its celebrated springs. 



90 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

branches — the Dukes of York, Clarence,* 
Kent,-j- Cumberland, Sussex, Cambridge, and 
Gloucester. Of the female branches— the 
Duchess of Gloucester, the Princesses Augusta, 
Elizabeth, Sophia, and Sophia Matilda. Prince 
Leopold, J husband of the late Princess Char- 
lotte, shared the same attentions ; as did the 
Duchesses of York and Cumberland. How 
far it may be necessary for a distant Republic* 
whose genius is entirely different from the an- 
cient governments of Europe, to exchange 
with them diplomatic representatives of the 
higher class, may be a question ; but it can be 
none whether, when once sent, they shall offer 
all the appropriate marks of respect which the 
usages of the world accord to sovereigns and 
those in immediate connexion with them. To 
withhold or stint them, would be in conflict 
with the purposes of the diplomatic office. I 
was in this feeling that, during my residence, 
I thought it proper never to be absent from a 
levee, or pretermit in any wise attentions to 
the royal family paid by other foreign minis- 
ters ; and I will take occasion to add, that I 
did not find an insensibility to the just motives 
of such a course. 

* Afterwards William IY. 

t Father of Queen Victoria. 

J Afterwards Leopold I. of Belgium. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 91 

It will be in unison with my narrative to in- 
sert a copy of the letter of credence I deliver- 
ed to the Prince Regent. It followed the 
established formulary, when the United States 
send Ministers to foreign courts. An eminent 
individual in England asked me what the form 
was from republics to monarchies. The answer 
is easy. The head of a republic, however ap- 
pointed or chosen, represents for the time 
being, its collective power and dignity. To 
foreign nations, he is the visible image of its 
sovereignty, and speaks to monarchs clothed 
with its attributes. The letter will afford at 
the same time a specimen of the peculiar style 
adopted by nations when speaking to each 
other through the personality centring in their 
executive heads. It is in these words : — 

" James Monroe, President of the United 
States of America, to His Royal Highness 
the Prince Regent of the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland : 

" Great and good Friend : 
" I have made choice of Richard E'ush, to 
reside near your Royal Highness in quality of 
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary of the United States of America. He 
is well informed of the relative interests of the 
two countries, and of our sincere desire to cul- 



92 RESIDENCE AT THE l8 i 8. 

tivate and strengthen the friendship and good 
correspondence between us ; and from a know- 
ledge of his fidelity, probity, and good con- 
duct, I have entire confidence that he will 
render himself acceptable to your Royal High- 
ness by his constant endeavours to preserve 
and advance the interests and happiness of 
both nations. I therefore request your Royal 
Highness to receive him favourably, and to give 
full credence to whatever he shall say on the 
part of the United States, and most of all when 
he shall assure you of their friendship, and 
wishes for your prosperity; and I pray God to 
have your Royal Highness in his safe and holy 
keeping. Written at the city of Washington, 
tlie thirty-first day of October anno Domini 
one thousand eight hundred and seventeen. 
By your good friend, 

"James Monroe." 
" John Quincy Adams, 
" Secretary of State." 

The letter of credence from the King, or 
Prince Regent, of England, on sending a 
minister plenipotentiary to the United States, 
is the same, mutatis mutandis, in its formal 
commencement and conclusion; and substan- 
tially the same throughout.* 

* To be entirely accurate, there were complimentary terms 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 93 

My reception having established me in full 
official standing, I left cards at the houses of 
the cabinet ministers and diplomatic corps. 
The former have precedence over the latter 
(though in England they often wave it) be- 
cause, sharing the confidence and administer- 
ing the power of the Sovereign, they become 
identified, so far, with his dignity. I visited 
also the Lord High Steward, Lord Chamber- 
lain, the Master of the Horse, and a few others 
personally attached to the royal household. 
The only one of the cabinet upon whom I had 
called previously was Lord Castlereagh. Ca- 
binet ministers in England are exempt from 
returning the visits of foreign ministers, as of 
all others ; nevertheless, the courtesy of Lord 
Castlereagh had returned mine. 

It was so that I aimed at going through the 
obligations of ceremony, as I found them esta- 
blished at the English court. I may have 
dwelled on them the longer because they were 
new to me ; but not too long. I do not dis- 
cuss their importance. I give them as facts. 
The philosopher may rail at them ; but, in his 
philosophy, he may discover, if candid, matter 
for raillery too. In the machinery of political 

in the first line of the President's letter, immediately after 
the name of the person of his choice ; but the Author has 
not thought it necessary to insert them. 



94 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

as social life 5 the smallest parts are often those 
that give impulse to the greatest movements. 
If we visit a strange country, scan its general 
population, enter its farm-houses, its cottages, 
its work-shops, we are permitted to speak of 
appearances and habits that on all sides arrest 
the eye. May we not, with a guarded free- 
dom, do the same of the high places of the 
world ? In the modes of life in each, are be- 
held component parts of the grand whole. If, 
from the former, issue the springs of power, 
it is in the latter, under monarchies, that its 
agents dwell. Perhaps if the feelings that 
exist in each could be better known to the 
other, jealousies might be softened, more fre- 
quently than increased. 

If may be thought that the forms I detail, 
are the growth only of monarchical soils. 
Their roots lie deeper. If none but republics 
existed, other forms would arise, differing in 
circumstance, but not in essence. In the 
genius of the latter governments, there is a 
sternness peculiarly opposed to giving up 
claims to outward reverence. The Roman 
Senate took more offence at Caesar's refusal to 
rise on an occasion when they intended to do 
him honour, than at his passing the Rubicon 
or seizing upon the treasury. The title of 
Majesty is modern, as applied to Kings. The 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 95 

Romans used it with peculiar fondness, says 
Dryden, in reference to the people — Majestas 
Populi Romani. The first treaty that Crom- 
well entered into with the United Provinces, 
had a stipulation that their ships should strike 
their flags in British seas, to the ''Republic" of 
England. We have seen, in our own day, with 
how prompt a sensibility President Madison, 
whose life has been a model of dignity as 
of public and private virtue, stood upon the 
point of form, when treaties were to be signed. 
Nor was he less scrupulous, when compli- 
mentary salutes were to be exchanged with the 
vessels or batteries of foreign powers. If the 
individual of just pride respects himself whilst 
he respects others, nations will ever be still 
more quick to the same feeling, and to all its 
external manifestations. 



96 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ATTEMPT UPON THE LIFE OF THE DUKE OF WELLING- 
TON. — OLD CUSTOMS ABOUT THE COURT. DINNER 

AT THE DANISH MINISTER'S. PRIVATE AUDIENCE 

OF THE QUEEN. THE DRAWING-ROOM. DINNER 

AT LORD CASTLEREAGH'S. 

February 16, 1818. The late attempt upon 
the life of the Duke of Wellington in Paris is 
a topic. He went there on business relating, 
as is believed, to the evacuation of France by 
the Army of Occupation, of which the English 
forms a part. Returning to his hotel at mid- 
night, a pistol was fired at his carriage. One 
of his aids was with him. Nobody was hurt. 
The report collected people, and some gen- 
darmerie went in pursuit. The Duke made his 
coachman stop, got out, and looked around. 
Such is the account I hear. I learn that it 
was transmitted by a special messenger from 
the French King, to his ambassador at this 
court. The ambassador repaired to Carlton 
House, to express to the Prince Regent the 



1818. COURT OP LONDON. 97 

concern felt by his sovereign, with assurances 
that all means would be used to discover the 
offender, and bring him to proper punishment. 
The ambassador afterwards went to Apsley 
House, the residence of the Duke of Welling- 
ton, to express to his family appropriate senti- 
ments on the occasion. 

February 21. Since my reception I have 
had calls from servants of official persons for 
"favours" I became acquainted with the term 
at Portsmouth. They had no warrant from 
their masters ; but came under ancient custom. 
There have also been to me, fraternities, more 
nearly allied to the Portsmouth bell-ringers ; 
as the " Palace drums and fifes" the " Royal 
waits and music ," and a third, the derivation of 
which I could not understand, and which no 
external signs that I saw bespoke, the " King's 
marrow-bones and cleavers" Each presented 
me with a congratulatory address. Each had 
their " book to show," They all have something 
to do with out-door arrangements when levees 
are held. These contributions upon the di- 
plomatic stranger, awakened at first my sur- 
prise. I afterwards heard what, perhaps, may 
serve as explanatory. Ambassadors on leaving 
England, receive from the Government a pre- 
sent of a thousand pounds ; and ministers ple- 
nipotentiary, five hundred. If then on their 

H 



98 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

arrival, and afterwards, there are appeals to 
their bounty by those in menial and such-like 
situations about the Government, the latter, it 
seems, pays hack again ! I do not hint that it 
does so in the light of an indemnification ; but 
the customs harmonize. True, the minister 
plenipotentiary of the United States never 
takes the five hundred pounds ; the consti- 
tution of his country forbidding it. But this 
is a point which it may be presumed he does 
not stop to expound to the servants of the 
foreign secretary, or the " Royal waits and 
music." It would doubtless be to them a 
novel plea in bar for not putting his hand in 
his pocket ! Whenever he pays for music, he 
must consider himself as having an equivalent 
in its tC silver sounds." 

If I had calls like these, I am bound to 
mention others. A great number of persons 
of the court and other circles paid me visits. 
Their names I need not recount. Of the list, 
were those whose acquaintance any one might 
regard as a source of gratification. In me, the 
feeling was heightened, as it marked the esti- 
mation in which my country was held. Inter- 
course to which the door thus opened in my 
favour, was afterwards extended, leading to 
hospitalities, that can neither pass from the 
memory, nor grow cold upon the heart. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 99 

February 23. At a dinner at the Danish 
minister's we had half a dozen gentlemen ; 
among them Sir Humphrey Davy. There were 
also ladies. One of the latter spoke of Franklin; 
he was a captivating writer — so much nature — 
so much genius ; Mr. Jefferson had said that to 
see the junction of two of our rivers where one 
breaks through a mountain, was worth crossing 
the Atlantic ; but she would think the voyage 
better undertaken to see Franklin's dpfchina 
bowl and silver spoon his wife bought for him ; 
she hoped both were kept ; it would be sacri- 
lege to let them perish. I was charmed at her 
manner of saying all this. Sir Humphrey took 
his share in the conversation. At the first 
words of this great chemist and philosopher, I 
was all attention. But he talked of neither 
chemistry nor philosophy. He agreed to what 
was said of Franklin. He spoke of the ex- 
pedition preparing for the North Pole ; it was 
fitted up, he said, with eve^y thing but a 
philosopher; whether the sailors would have 
no such non-descript on board, or none would 
consent to go, he could not say ; the ocean 
was a noble dominion for nations, but a bad 
place for landsmen ; worst of all for philoso- 
phers. He spoke of the case about wager of 
battle, pending in the King's Bench ; the very 
argument was so like a burlesque, that, he 



100 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

thought, the parties had better be allowed to 
fight it out at once, the "fancy" forming a 
ring, while parliament and the judges looked 
on. His elocution was remarkably prompt and 
smooth. In society he seems as pleasing, as 
in the lecture-room he is profound. He told 
me that the widow of Garrick was alive, at an 
advanced age, and lived not far from the house 
I had taken. Mr. Bourke, our kind host, had 
been much among the courts of Europe. In- 
clination and opportunity had improved his 
taste in the arts. In the drawing-rooms after 
dinner, pictures were talked of, his walls show- 
ing some fine ones. He said that in distin- 
guishing the various productions of the different 
masters, there was no more difficulty, where 
the eye had been practised among large col- 
lections, than in distinguishing the faces and 
handwriting of your living acquaintances. 

February 25. Having brought from my Go- 
vernment a letter of credence to the Queen, I 
was this day presented to her. It was called 
a private presentation, and took place at Buck- 
ingham Palace. 

I got to the palace before the hour fixed. 
Servants were at the door, and in the hall. 
Ascending an ample staircase, the master 
of ceremonies received me in one of the 
rooms of a suite, all open, but no one else in 



I8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 101 

them. When five o'clock came, he conducted 
me to the audience-room, which I entered 
alone. 

Immediately before me was the Queen. On 
her right was one of the Princesses, her daugh- 
ter ; on her left, another. Near them were 
two ladies in waiting. All were in full court- 
dresses ; and all standing. In another part of 
the room were her Majesty's Chamberlain, and 
the Duke of Montrose. These made up the 
whole assemblage. All w r as silence. Ap- 
proaching the Queen, I said ; — " Having been 
accredited by his Royal Highness, the Prince 
Regent, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister 
Plenipotentiary from the United States, I have 
now the honour to present this letter to your 
Majesty. In executing the duties of my mis- 
sion, I have it in charge from the President so 
to bear myself as to give hope of gaining your 
Majesty's esteem ; and this I beg to assure 
your Majesty will be my constant ambition." 
She received the letter. As she took it, she 
said, that the sentiments I expressed were very 
obliging, and entered into conversation. Learn- 
ing I was from Philadelphia she asked ques- 
tions about it, and others respecting the United 
States, generally ; all put in a very kind spirit. 
The interview lasted about fifteen minutes. 

The Queen was then seventy-six, Her birth- 



102 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

day was the day following. As I entered the 
room, and during the whole interview, there 
was a benignity in her manner, which, in union 
with her age and rank, was both attractive and 
touching. The tones of her voice had a gen- 
tleness, the result, in part, of years ; but full as 
much of intended suavity to a stranger. The 
scene as it first broke upon me ; its novelty, its 
quiet yet impressive stateliness, became, almost 
immediately, by her manner, one of naturalness 
and ease. My immediate predecessor, Mr. 
Adams, when presented to her, made an allu- 
sion to qualities in her character, which, as I 
came to learn through a good source that it 
was advantageously remembered at the Eng- 
lish Court, I will repeat. His mission be- 
gan in 1815, immediately after the war between 
the two countries. He said, that the political 
relations between them had been subject to the 
versatility that attended all human affairs ; that 
dissensions had arisen, which however had been 
removed, and, he ardently hoped, permanently 
removed ; but that the reverence commanded 
by her Majesty's private virtues had been sub- 
ject to no such change; it had been invariably 
felt by his Government, and he could utter no 
wish more propitious to the happiness of both 
countries, than that the future harmony between 
them might be equally unalterable. The allu- 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 103 

sion was happy, because it was just. Through- 
out a long life, she had been uniformly distin- 
guished by her private virtues, and her efforts 
to imprint them upon the times. I saw her 
sinking below the horizon. But the serenity 
that I saw, betokened, that as the splendours 
of her day were setting, she had a conscious- 
ness that it was not for them alone she had 
lived.* 

* Mr. Adams was always very happy in his allusions on 
such occasions. Who, that heard it, can forget his memo- 
rable parting address, while President, to General Lafayette, 
in 1825, on behalf of the American People, while the U.S. 
Frigate " Brandywine," that was to convey him home, lay at 
anchor in the Potomac, almost within sight of the President's 
House, where the address was delivered, as the President, 
surrounded by his Cabinet, and high officers of Govern- 
ment, civil and military, stood face to face with the Nation's 
Guest. The passage beginning, (( Go, then, our beloved 
Friend, return to that beautiful France, &c. &c./' was par- 
ticularly impressive; 

And what right-minded American but would be willing 
to trace a parallel to the reverence, here spoken of by Mr. 
Adams as existing in America, for the private virtues of 
Queen Charlotte, in the same feeling among his countrymen 
for the domestic virtues of the present Female ^Occupant of 
the British Throne, singularly exemplified throughout a 
reign already long, and strikingly exhibited on more than 
one recent memorable occasion. This feeling prevails 
largely in the United States, and triumphing over tempo- 
rary " dissensions/' and the " versatility" belonging to 
" political relations/' found vent in a wide-spread sympathy 
for Queen Victoria on tho occasion of the late alarming 



104 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

February 27. Yesterday her Majesty held 
a drawing-room. It was in celebration of her 
birth-day. My wife w r as presented by Lady 
Castlereagh. Besides being a birth-day cele- 
bration, it was the first drawing-room of the 
season, and the first since the death of the 
Princess Charlotte. The weather was fine, 
with a brilliant sun. A permit had been sent 
from the Board of Green Cloth for my carriage 
to pass into St. James's Park, through the gate 
on Constitution Hill. 

Going through Hyde Park, I found the 
whole way from Tyburn to Piccadilly (about 
a mile) filled with private carriages, standing 
still. Persons were in them who had adopted 
this mode of seeing those who went to court. 
Tenfold the number went by other approaches, 
and every approach, I was told, was thronged 
with double rows of equipages, filled with 
spectators. I was to be set down with the rest 
of the diplomatic corps, and others having the 
entree, at a door assigned, within the court- 
illness of her eldest son, the Heir Apparent to the British 
Crown. Of this feeling the English People are not unaware. 
It is not many weeks since one of the leading Journals of 
England, in referring to the late insane attempt to alarm the 
Queen by pointing a pistol at her, spoke of Queen Victoria 
as " the best and most beloved of Sovereigns — not only best 
6< beloved by her own subjects, but by the great and kindred 
61 race from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans." 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 105 

yard of the palace. Arrived in its vicinity, 
my carriage was stopped by those before it. 
Here we saw, through the trees and avenues 
of the Park, other carriages rapidly coming 
up, in two regular lines from the Horse Guards 
and St. James's. Another line, that had been 
up, was turning slowly off, towards the Bird- 
cage Walk.' Foreigners agreed, that the united 
capitals of Europe could not match the sight. 
The horses were all in the highest condition ; 
and, under heavy emblazoned harness, seemed, 
like war-horses, to move proudly. Trumpets 
were sounding, and the Park and Tower guns 
firing. There were ranks of cavalry in scarlet, 
with their bright helmets, and jet black horses; 
the same we were told, men and horses, that 
had been at Waterloo. 

We were soon set down, and entered the 
great hall. What a contrast ! The day before, 
I had gone up the staircase alone. Now, what 
did I see? We were not out of time, for, by 
appointment, my carriage reached the palace 
with Lord Castlereagh's ; but whilst hundreds 
were still arriving, hundreds were endeavourino- 
to come away. The staircase branched off at 
the first landing, into two arms. It was wide 
enough to admit a partition, which was let in. 
The company ascending, took one channel ; 
those descending, the other ; and both were 



106 EESTDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

full. The whole group stood motionless. The 
openings through the carved balusters, brought 
all under view at once, whilst the paintings on 
the walls heightened the effect. ( The hoop 
dresses of. the ladies, sparkling with lama; their 
plumes ; their lappets ; the fanciful attitudes 
which the hoops occasioned, some getting out 
of position as when in Addison's time they 
were adjusted to shoot a door ; the various 
costumes of the gentlemen as they stood pi- 
nioning;; their elbows, and holding in their 
swords ; the common hilarity, from the com- 
mon dilemma; the bland recognitions passing 
between those above and. below, made up, al- 
together, an exhibition so picturesque, that a 
painter might give it as illustrative, so far, of 
the court of that sera. Without pausing to 
describe the incidents during our progress 
upwards, it may be sufficient to say, that the 
party to which I was attached, and of which 
Lady Castlereagh, towering in her bloom, was 
the pioneer, reached the summit of the stair- 
case in about three quarters of an hour. 

Four rooms were allotted to the ceremony. 
In the second was the Queen. She sat on a 
velvet chair and cushion, a little raised up. 
Near her were the Princesses, and ladies in 
waiting. The general company, as they reached 
the corridor by one arm of the staircase, passed 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 107 

on to the Queen. Bowing to her, they re- 
gained it, after passing through all the rooms, 
by an outlet that led to the other arm ; which 
they descended. When my wife was presented, 
her Majesty addressed some conversation to 
her, as a stranger. This she could not do to 
all, time not permitting. The Regent was 
there, and the Royal Family ; cabinet ministers 
and their ladies ; foreign ambassadors and mi- 
nisters with theirs. These, having the entree 
remained, if they chose, in the room with the 
Queen. A numerous portion of the nobility 
w r ere present, their wives and daughters ; with 
others distinguished in life, though bearing 
neither title nor station. Conversation you 
got as you could, in so great and rich a 
throng. 

If the scene in the hall was picturesque, the 
one upstairs transcended it. The doors of the 
rooms were all open. You saw in them a 
thousand ladies richly dressed. All the co- 
lours of nature were mingling their rays toge- 
ther. It was the first occasion of laying by 
mourning for the Princess Charlotte ; so that 
it was like the bursting out of spring. No lady 
was without her plume. The whole was a 
waving field of feathers. Some were blue, 
like the sky; some tinged with red ; here you 
saw violet and yellow; there, shades of green. 



108 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8 

But the most were like tufts of snow. The 
diamonds encircling them, caught the sun 
through the windows, and threw dazzling 
beams around. Then the hoops ! I cannot 
describe these. They should be seen. To see 
one is nothing. But to see a thousand — and 
their thousand wearers ! I afterwards sat in 
the Ambassadors' box at a coronation. That 
sight faded before this.* Each lady seemed to 
rise out of a gilded little barricade ; or one of 
silvery texture. This, topped by her plume, 
and the " face divine" interposing, gave to the 
whole an effect so unique, so fraught with fe- 
minine grace and grandeur, that it seemed as 
if a curtain had risen to show a pageant in 
another sphere. It was brilliant and joyous. 
Those to whom it was not new, stood at gaze 
as I did. Canning for one. His fine eye took 
it all in. You saw admiration in the gravest 
statesmen; Lord Liverpool, Huskisson, the 
Lord Chancellor, everybody. I had already 
seen in England signs enough of opulence and 
power. Now I saw, radiating on all sides, 
British beauty. My own country I believed 

* The Coronation of George IV. To one who many years 
afterwards had the good fortune to occupy a seat in the 
Ambassadors' box at the Coronation of Queen Victoria,, and 
to be present at many of her Drawing Rooins, a similar 
thought readily suggests itself. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 109 

was destined to a just measure of the two first ; 
and I had the inward assurance that my coun- 
trywomen were the inheritresses of the last. 
Matre pulchrd Jilia pulchrior. So appeared 
to me the drawing-room of Queen Charlotte. 

The ceremonies of the day being ended, as 
far as myself and suite were concerned, we 
sought the corridor to come away. In good 
time we reached the head of the descending 
channel. Will it be believed ? both chfflinels 
were full as ever of hoops and plumes. There 
was something in the spectacle from this po- 
sition that presented a new image. Positively, 
it came over the eye like beautiful architec- 
ture ; the hoops the base, the plume the pin- 
nacle ! The parts of this dress may have been 
incongruous ; but the whole was harmony. 
Like Old English* buildings, and Shakspeare, 
it carried the feelings with it. It triumphed 
over criticism. We got down stairs in about 
the same time it took to get up. As we 
waited in the hall for our carriage, military 
bands were playing in the court-yard, some 
mounted, some on foot ; amidst the strains of 
which we drove off. 

In the evening I dined at Lord Castlereao;h's. 
It was a dinner in honour of the birth-day. 
All were in official costume. The foreign 
ambassadors and ministers, and several of the 



110 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

English ambassadors at European courts, at 
home on leave, were at it. Among the topics 
was the beautiful scene of the morning. All 
gave their voice to its attractiveness. I will 
say no more of the dinner. Lord Castlereagh, 
anxious for the pleasure of his guests, diffused 
his attentions in ways to promote it. We sat 
down at eight, and rose at ten. By eleven the 
company dispersed. 
i 



1 8 1 8 . COURT OF LONDON. Ill 



CHAPTER X. 

emigration. — literary institutions. — clubs. — 
booksellers' shops. — st. james's palace. — party 
at the duchess of cumberland's. — at the rus- 
sian ambassador's. — at the marchioness of 
Stafford's. — at lord melville's— -the duke of 
SUSSEX. — dinner at the mansion house. 



March 1, 1818. I receive many letters 
from persons in England, on emigrating to the 
United States. The writers seek information 
and advice. I afford neither. The bad sub- 
jects of Britain we do not want ; the good, it 
is no part of my province to be instrumental in 
drawing away. If the majority of the appli- 
cants be what they profess, they would prove 
an acquisition to any new country > where, land 
being abundant and labour dear, men are the 
best imports. One, a farmer, represents him- 
self to have six thousand pounds. Two of the 
same class say, that they each would carry over 
about half as much. I learn that another of 
the applicants, a manufacturer, is reputed to 



112 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

be worth thirty thousand pounds. The natu- 
ralization laws of the United States give less 
encouragement to emigrants than is generally 
supposed ; less than some of their citizens 
think wise. For one, I regard them as injudi- 
cious. They do not confer citizenship upon 
terms at all as favourable as Russia and Hol- 
land have formerly done, and are believed to 
do still; as England did, for ages, when she 
even offered bounties to certain classes of 
foreigners on coming to her shores ; and as 
France has done at periods when her popula- 
tion, in proportion to her soil, was far greater 
than that of the United States. The latter re- 
quire a full residence of five years, with regu- 
lations that put further clogs upon the pri- 
vilege. 

I should fill many pages were I to detail ap- 
plications of another description ; I mean from 
the authors of new projects. One has an im- 
proved plan for making rockets; another thinks 
he has discovered a mode of building ships 
that will all sail alike; a third has a model of a 
gun-carriage, by which a 64-pounder can be 
worked like a swivel ; a fourth a fire-machine 
to explode under water, with more destruction 
to every thing above than Fulton's torpedo. 
The projectors all desire patronage from the 
Government of the United States, and will go 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 11 



Q 



over, on proper encouragement from me, It 
will be inferred, that if I leave farmers and 
manufacturers to think and act for themselves, 
I abstain from all interference in the cases of 
these ingenious persons. In truth, we want 
them less. Most of their inventions are for 
destroying life ; as if means enough were not 
known already. 

March 2. Visited the Ro}^al Institution in 
Albemarle Street. Its objects are scientific 
and literary. A lecture-room, with apparatus, 
is annexed, where Sir Humphrey Davy, and 
Professors Brande and Milligan, deliver lec- 
tures. It has a large library, and is furnished 
with the current periodical publications. I 
note it merely as one, though of much repute, 
among numerous establishments of the kind in 
London. Another was mentioned to me — the 
London Institution in Moorfields — founded a 
few years back, at an expense of upwards of 
fifty thousand guineas, obtained by subscrip- 
tion among private individuals in that range of 
the city. The Clubs also have libraries, and 
the periodical works. It is so at the Alfred, 
which is near the Royal Institution. The 
Club Houses appear to be among the largest 
in town, judging from those in St. James's 
Street. Let me here relate what I heard of 
one of them— White's — the great Tory Club, in 

i 



114 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8- 

St. James's. Somebody spoke of the lights 
kept burning there all night: "Yes," said a 
member, "they have not been out, I should think, 
since the reign of Charles II" The London 
Clubs of the higher order are not associations 
for mere conviviality, but for intercourse upon 
a far broader scale ; political, literary, scien- 
tific, dramatic, and objects more diversified. 
At a subsequent day I visited several, and had 
the freedom of some bestowed upon me. I 
was honoured with that of the United Service 
Club, the Travellers', and the Alfred.* The 
first, for extent and completeness, I may almost 
add splendour, surpassed any that came under 
my observation, though all were more or less 
striking. None of its members are below the 
rank of field-officers in the army, or captains 
in the navy. Through the good offices of Sir I 
Humphrey Davy, I had the privilege of re- i 
sorting to the library and reading-rooms of the 
Royal Institution. My gratitude is due for 
the facilities accorded to me at all times for 
reading and consulting books there, and at- 
tending lectures. 

* To one of these beautiful and celebrated Clubs, the 
' Travellers/ the writer avails himself of this occasion to record 
his acknowledgments for repeated opportunities, through the 
obliging courtesy of its Committee, of participating in its 
advantages and agreeable intercourse, not only while U.S, 
Secretary of Legation in London, but long afterwards. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 115 

I have been to several of the great book- 
sellers' shops; that of Payne and Foss in Pall 
Mall, whose collection is said to be very choice; 
some in Paternoster Row, and Lackington's, 
corner of Finsbury Square. A bird's-eye view 
of them shows the amount of capital employed 
in this great branch of business, the more im- 
posing as it gives the idea of intellectual as 
well as moneyed capital. The mere external 
arrangement at Lackington's seemed to be the 
best, and I should have inferred, but perhaps 
erroneously, as I did not see the whole extent 
of some in Paternoster Row, that their collec- 
tion was largest. One of the firm told me, 
that the number of volumes in two descrip- 
tions of books, Shakspeare and the periodical 
writers, amounted, as nearly as he could say, 
to about one hundred thousand. I should have 
conjectured that the entire collection could 
scarcely have fallen short of a million of volumes. 
Opening cursorily some of the catalogues, Lack- 
ington's appeared to contain the greatest num- 
ber of works on America ; especially on the 
early colonial history of the United States. 
The catalogues are made out with great care, 
and give the prices. They formed well-sized 
octavo volumes. Lackington's ran on to a 
thousand pages. 

Of books, we expect catalogues. But it 

i 2 



116 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

is much the habit of English shopkeepers 
generally to have printed lists of their articles. 
Stepping into a large ironmonger's-shop, the 
proprietor handed me a stout pamphlet which 
presented his whole assortment in print, with 
the prices annexed to each item, no matter 
how minute. Haberdashers send out their 
inventories in print, and the dealers in a thou- 
sand other things theirs. Their packets come 
to my house in I know not what quantity ; to 
the advantage of the paper-maker, job-printer, 
and other handicrafts in the system of sub- 
division. 

March 4. Went the evening before last, to 
a party at the Duchess of Cumberland's, St. 
James's Palace. 

This is among the oldest buildings in Lon- 
don. It presents on the street, a fortress-like 
appearance. To what order it belongs would 
be hard to say. The whole is an irregular 
pile. But the very confusion in its plan, with 
its antiquity, and the sentinels pacing day and 
night about it, minister to the fancy, making 
amends for its want of good architecture. So 
says one, who, unaccustomed to the sight of 
edifices that go far back into time, finds this 
the ingredient which seizes most upon his first 
feelings. 

We drove under a gatehouse leading to a 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 117 

paved court-yard. Here we were set down 
at the entrance to the Duke of Cumberland's 
apartments. Directed by servants who lined 
the way, we passed up to the rooms of en- 
tertainment. The company was not very large. 
In a rich arm-chair, sat the Prince Regent ; 
on one side of him the Duchess of Cumber- 
land, on the other the Marchioness of Hert- 
ford. The rest of the company stood. When 
we entered, all were listening to music. Mem- 
bers of the royal family, cabinet ministers, the 
foreign ambassadors, with their respective 
ladies, and others, formed the groups. I ob- 
served among them the Lord Chancellor, Sir 
William Scott, and Mr. Canning. On a pause 
in the music, there was conversation. The 
Duchess of Cumberland spoke kindly of my 
country, and individuals belonging to it ; par- 
ticularly Mr. and Mrs. Adams, whom she had 
"known at the court of Berlin. The Duke 
talked to me of the United States, embracing: 
in his inquiries, language ; with a desire to 
learn how far, if at all, we fell into changes in 
idiom or pronunciation from the parent stock. 
I had introductions to several persons. 
Whilst in conversation with the Earl of Hard- 
wicke, a gentleman stood within a few paces. 
I did not know him. On separating from 
Lord Hardwicke, he advanced towards me, 



118 RESIDENCE AT THE l8lS. 

saying, " I'm going to bring a bill into Par- 
liament, making it indictable in any stranger, 
whether ambassador from a republic, kingdom, 
or popedom, ever to leave his card without his 
address upon it : how do you do, Mr. Rush, 
how do you do ? I've been trying; to find you 
everywhere — I'm Lord Erskine." In this 
manner commenced my acquaintance with this 
gifted man. There was no one in England of 
whose fame I had oftener heard, or whom I 
more desired to know. He continued — " I 
had a letter for you from my brother, the Earl 
of Buchan, but you made me carry it so long 
in my pocket that I lost it ; it had no secrets ; 
it was only to congratulate you on your ar- 
rival ; he was long a correspondent and friend 
of your father's, and wants to transfer his feel- 
ings to you, that's all ; so you can write to him 
as if you had received it." I assured him of 
my gratification at meeting him, and made the 
due apologies for the omission on my card. 
He inquired for President Monroe, Mr. Pink- 
ney, and others ; said he had always loved the 
United States, and hoped to visit them yet, as he 
was an old sailor and cared nothing for storms. 
Such was his sprightly strain. He must have 
been seventy, or near it ; but, as Sir Francis 
Burdett said, he illustrated the fable of youth 
peeping through the mask of age. It was a 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 119 

treat to see so much genius with so much play- 
fulness ; such a social flow from one whose 
powerful eloquence had been felt by the Eng- 
lish nation, and helped to change, on some 
fundamental points, the English law. He saun- 
tered about with me and looked at the paint- 
ing's. There was a full-length likeness of 
George II. another of George III. and one 
of Mary of Scots ; a " Royal jade," he feared, 
" but very pretty." We ended in a room at 
the extremity of the suite, where was a table 
set out with golden urns for tea, and other 
light refreshments ; to which those went who 
were inclined. At one o'clock we came away. 
The music was by professional performers. 
Not only are the first musical talents of Eng- 
land engaged for private entertainments at 
houses of distinction, but the best from Italy, 
France, and other parts of the continent ; the 
Fodors, the Pastas, the Ambrogettis, the Cata- 
lanis, who may always be seen in London. 

March 10. Dined at the Russian Ambassa- 
dor's. This distinguished diplomatist is under- 
stood to enjoy in a high degree the good-will 
of his sovereign, and by all other titles is pro- 
minent in official and court circles. To the 
social assemblages of each the Princess Lieven, 
his wife, brings dignity, intelligence, and grace. 
From the embassy, we experienced at all times 
the kindness in unison with the srood relations 



120 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

subsisting; between the United States and 
Russia. The guests consisted of the diplo- 
matic corps, their wives, and some other 
foreigners. General conversation was kept up 
at table, and revived in smaller circles in the 
drawing-rooms afterwards. 

I had some with the Minister Plenipotentiary 
from Naples. He directed it to the affairs of 
.the United States. Of their commerce and 
marine he had been observant, particularly in 
the Mediterranean. With the interests of the 
countries on this sea, he seemed familiar. He 
had been minister at Constantinople ; his 
father had been in the same post before him, 
and now, it was filled by his son. He asked if 
my Government did not contemplate opening 
diplomatic intercourse with the Porte, which 
led us to talk of the commerce of the Black 
Sea. He doubted if we could derive benefit 
from it, unless as carriers, should we even be 
admitted there. All that we desired, I said, 
was the opportunity. The nations to whom it 
was open were, he said, Russia, Austria, Eng- 
land, and France. Naples enjoyed it not ; she 
was unwilling to pay what the court of Con- 
stantinople asked.* 

* The United States and Turkey have long since ex- 
changed diplomatic representatives, and are represented at 
this moment at the Government of each. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 121 

Prince Lieven expressed to me his hope, 
that the late appointment by the Emperor of 
Mr. Poletica as Minister Plenipotentiary to 
the United States, would improve the friend- 
ship between our two countries. I joined in 
the hope ; the more, as Mr. Poletica had been 
favourably known in the United States since 
the days of Count Pahlen's mission. He 
spoke of Mr. Adams and the respect in which 
he was held when minister in Russia. I said, 
that his titles to respect at home had been in- 
creased by his correspondence whilst at St. 
Petersburgh. Here I stated, that in 1811 and 
1812 his despatches relating to the great 
movements in Europe, were frequent and full; 
that he proved himself master of them all, 
anticipating the political combinations, and 
military results of that era, with remarkable 
precision; above all, confidently predicting 
the failure of Napoleon's grand expedition to 
Moscow, from the roused and warlike patriot- 
ism of Russia, and her abundant resources. 
Such had been the uniform tenor of his com- 
munications. They were on the archives of 
the American government, as monuments of 
the writer's capacity to handle public affairs of 
magnitude, with judgment and forecast. The 
Ambassador heard with satisfaction my nar- 
rative. 



122 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8, 

March 12. Last night we were at the Mar- 
chioness of Stafford's. The rooms were full. 
The Prince Regent, Royal family, many of the 
nobility, and others thronged them. It was 
past eleven when we arrived ; yet fresh names 
were every moment announced. All were in 
black under an order for a new Court mourn- ' 
ing for the late King of Sweden, Charles XIII.; 
who however did not die king, Bernadotte — 
the remnant of Napoleon's royal creations — 
occupying the Swedish throne. The rooms 
abounded in ornamental articles. The paint- 
ings commanded admiration. Under light 
judiciously disposed, they made a magnificent 
appearance. There is said to be no such 
private collection in Europe. It comprehends 
the productions of the first masters of the dif- 
ferent schools. A considerable number are 
from the Orleans collection, procured in France 
by the late Duke of Bridgewater, from whom 
the estates of the Marquis of Stafford in part 
descend. These works of genius glowing from 
every part of the walls, formed of themselves 
a high attraction had the evening afforded no 
others. 

It was the beginning of many hospitalities 
we had from this family. The Marquis is 
known to his country by the public character 
his peerage gives him, and the posts he has 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 123 

filled. The Marchioness is not less known by 
her rank ; for she is of the oldest of the realm. 
But this is adventitious. She is known by her 
cultivated mind, her taste in the arts, her 
benevolence to her tenantry, by virtues unos- 
tentatious and refined, that commend her to 
the love of domestic and social circles, and 
endear her name to strangers.* 

March 17. Dined at Lord Melville's. Lord 
and Lady Melville, Lord and Lady Mulgrave, 
Lord Keith, the Ambassador of the Nether- 
lands, the Danish Minister and Lady, Mr. 
Barrow, and a few more, made the party. 

The Polar expedition was talked of. The 
prevailing opinion was against its success, but 
Mr. Barrow stood up for it. For every doubt, 
man of genius like, he had a solution, often in 
veins of pleasantry. I learned that he was the 
author of the article on this subject in the 
thirty-fifth number of the Quarterly Review, 
which everybody had read with pleasure, at 
least. Lord Melville said, that nothing would 
be omitted by the Admiralty to ensure success 
to the expedition, as far as equipment was con- 

* One who knew her long afterwards as Duchess Countess 
of Sutherland, and recalls the recollection of some of these 
traits, with kindnesses always so acceptable to a stranger, is 
prompted here to respond to this just tribute. 



124 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

cerned ; but I saw that he was not sanguine as 
to results. 

I commended some delicious oranges on the 
table. His lordship asked if we had them in 
the United States. In the southern parts, I 
replied ; in other parts we got them from the 
West Indies. Copying Mr. Barrow's good 
vein I said, that those from the English Islands 
would have a better relish if his Majesty's Go- 
vernment would allow us to bring them in our 
own ships ! In the same spirit his lordship 
answered, that, for one, he would be most 
happy to contribute to our enjoyments ; but 
must hear what Lord Castlereagh had to say ! 

In the dining-room hung the original paint- 
ings of the places seen by Cook in his voyages. 
In the hall was one of Duncan's victory over 
the Dutch off Camperdown. I asked if there 
was no collection in England representing, in 
historical series, the victories of the nation 
gained in fleets, beginning with those in Crom- 
well's time. His lordship said, none. 

In the drawing-room was a large vase of 
alabaster about eight feet high, and of the 
finest proportions. It stood before a mirror. 
On the exterior surface, the whole story of 
Lucretia was represented in figures of demi- 
relievo. The work was exquisite. The vase 
was illuminated inside, and cast softened 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 125 

shades through the room. By the reflections 
of the mirror, all the figures, though on a 
spherical surface, came under the eye at once. 
This classic and beautiful ornament, which the 
size of the room displayed to the best advan- 
tage, had been imported from Florence. Eng- 
land, though carrying the manufacturing arts 
to so high a pitch, is filled with the costly 
productions of other parts of the world ; the 
porcelain, the silk damasks, the or-molu, of 
France ; the finest works in marble from Italy; 
the table-linen of Holland and Saxonj r ; the 
lace of Flanders ; the gems, the cashmeres, of 
India. No amount of duty shuts out such 
articles from her opulent classes. Their very 
costliness brings them into demand. 

March 18. The Duke of Sussex visited me. 
He had called when I was out. Seeing the 
Secretary of Legation at Almack's, he fixed 
to-day for calling again. I stayed at home to 
receive him. 

An ardour for constitutional liberty pervaded 
his conversation. It rose sometimes to an elo- 
quent boldness. I had not been prepared for 
quite as much in a prince of the blood, and 
prized it the more. Passing in review some 
of the speakers in parliament, he specially 
commended Lords Grey, Holland, Lansdowne, 
Grenville, and Erskine ; and, of the House 



126 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

of Commons, — Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr, 
Brougham, and Sir James Macintosh.* 

Gibbon was mentioned. He thought highly 
of his historical research, but preferred Addi- 
son's style. The latter never tired. It was 
adapted to all subjects. He spoke of Mr. 
Adams, called him his friend, said he had 
known him on the Continent, where, as in 
England, he was esteemed by all to whom 
he was known. In paying a tribute to his 
talents, he mentioned his knowledge of lan- 
guages. 

The French was spoken of as the language 
of conversation in Europe. His Royal High- 
ness said, that he would not perhaps object to 

* A member of the House of Peers, at the close of a 
protracted debate, many years afterwards, in. which Lord 
Brougham had electrified his audience by his marvellous 
eloquence, was heard to say, " There has been nothing 
like this since the days of Chatham/' At the period in 
question, Brougham was in his zenith, winning nightly 
triumphs in the field in which he was such a consummate and 
acknowledged master. There are those who have stood for 
hours, in the House of Lords, in the space allotted to stran- 
gers, without being in the slightest degree sensible of fatigue, 
listening to, and carried away, by his resistless oratory. Sir 
Eobert Peel and Lord Stanley (the late Earl of Derby,) con- 
tributed their powerful share in the other House to the 
English Parliamentary renown of those days, sometimes 
making it difficult to decide to which House to give the 
preference for an evening's intellectual treat, but Brougham 
was primus inter pares. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 127 

this, as it was established ; but when used as 
the language of state papers and treaties, he 
was disposed to make a qusere. The French 
was acquired by foreigners with sufficient pre- 
cision for conversation, and general purposes 
of literature ; but in drawing up treaties, where 
the employment of words in their nicest shades 
of meaning was often of national moment, he 
who wrote in his native language had an ad- 
vantage ; and however slight, it was enough to 
lay the practice open to objection. He would 
suggest as a remedy, that treaties and other 
solemn papers, to which two or more nations 
were parties, should be drawn up in Latin. 
This would put modern nations upon a par. 
Each would stand upon the scholarship of their 
public men. It was to this effect he spoke. I 
thought it in the natural feeling of an English 
prince. 

The language of France has been diffused 
by her social manners, the merit of her writers, 
the exile of her protestants, and the power of 
her monarchy. Some of these influences are 
past. Others are shared by contemporary 
nations. Is it right that the monopoly of her 
language should last for ever ? I would be 
much inclined to his Royal Highness's remedy, 
if there were no other, though open to diffi- 
culty, perhaps, from modern terms of art. But 



128 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

I venture upon the suggestion of another. Let 
the language most likely to be predominant 
throughout Christendom, be the common ve- 
hicle of Christendom. If a living language is 
to be adopted at all, this would be the fairest 
test. The European dominions of Britain 
have a population of upwards of twenty-two 
millions ; the United States count more than 
twelve, to take no notice of the rapid increase 
of the latter, or numerous colonies of the former. 
Here is enough to authorize the belief, that, 
already, there are more persons to whom Eng- 
lish is the vernacular tongue than French ; and 
that it is destined to gain, not only upon the 
French, but German, Spanish, and all others. 
There is another fact more applicable. The 
foreign commerce of Britain and that of the 
United States conjointly, exceed that of all 
Europe. This serves, at the present day, to 
send forth the English tongue more extensively 
to all parts of the globe, than the French, or 
any of Christendom. Malherbe asserted the 
rights of his native language so strenuously 
against all foreign usurpation, that he gained 
at the French court the appellation of " tyrant 
of words and syllables." Very well, in a 
Frenchman ! But if treaties and all other 
international papers are always to be written 
in French words and syllables, what becomes 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 129 

of the equal independence of English words 
and syllables? The French are too just to dis- 
parage the language of Milton, and Newton, 
and Locke ; and why should they insist upon 
the perpetual preference of their own ; or 
rather why should England acquiesce?* 

His Royal Highness, it must be added, is 
himself an excellent linguist. To his know- 
ledge of the classics, he adds German, Italian, 
French, Hebrew 9 and it may be others, of 
which I am not informed. 

March 23. Dined at the Lord Mayor's. It 
was not Lord Mayor s Day, but a city enter- 
tainment always given on Easter Monday, at 
the Mansion-house. This edifice is sometimes 
called the City palace. In size, it resembles 
one, and in some points of architecture ; but 

* If it were true in 1818 that the English language was 
more spoken throughout the globe, than any other, how 
much more true now ? The Author's suggestion that " the 
language most likely to be predominant throughout Christen- 
dom, should be the common vehicle of Christendom/' de- 
serves to be thought of. Why indeed, it is well asked, 
should other Nations acquiesce in the claim to monopoly set 
up by France in this respect ? Prince Bismark has already 
set an example which it is hoped may be followed, and 
already a change is perceptible to ordinary travellers. On 
a late tour through parts of Grermany (before the War) it 
was remarked that Germans spoke English more frequently 
than French. At times, it became rare to hear the latter, 
while the former was not rare. 

K 



130 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

is badly situated, close to the Bank and Royal 
Exchange. The streets are so narrow, you 
can see it but in part, and it is with difficulty 
that carriages approach it at all. Through the 
courtesy of the Lord Mayor, the diplomatic 
corps are annually invited to this entertain- 
ment. It is a gratifying one to them, for they 
see at it, the image of a powerful class in the 
empire ; the commercial class. 

The Royal Dukes, some of the nobility, and 
persons in station, were present. These, with 
the diplomatic corps, occupied seats in a half 
circle at the upper extremity of the room, on 
an elevation or dais. The tables in the area 
below, were filled with the opulent citizens of 
London. It was a fine sight. They might be 
taken as a representative body from the great 
ocean of mercantile wealth between Temple- 
bar and London-bridge. The room was the 
Egyptian hall, of ample dimensions and bril- 
liantly lighted. A band played as we entered. 
The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress were 
side by side in the centre of the half circle, at 
the top of the dais ; the latter in a full court- 
dress. By her position she faced the whole 
company ; a trying situation, which she bore 
with grace. After all the courses were over, 
toasts were given, the first I had heard in 
England. Music was kept up, the song rose, 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 131 

and every thing ministered to the festive feeling. 
On one side of me was Sir Benjamin Bloom- 
field. At intervals we conversed. It was 
principally of the United States. He spoke 
in a very friendly spirit ; urging the benefit to 
both countries of mutual good-will and good 
offices. I listened the more, as he was Private 
Secretary to the Prince Regent. 

The entertainment closed with a ball in 
another part of the building. Throughout the 
rooms, were insignia of the commerce and 
riches of London from an ancient day. The 
nation that commands the trade of the world, 
said Sir Walter Raleigh, commands its riches, 
and consequently the world itself. Whether 
the saying be true or not, the policy, the laws, 
the whole conduct of the English, attest that 
they never forget it. 



k2 



132 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 



CHAPTER XL 



visit to mr. west. — dinner at mr. lyttelton's — at 
lord Holland's. — a day at deptford and Green- 
wich. — DINNER AT THE AUSTRIAN AMBASSADOR'S — 
AT EARL BATHURST'S. — MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCESS 
ELIZABETH. — DINNER AT LORD BAGOT's. 



March 26, 1818. Visited Mr. West, Presi- 
dent of the Royal Academy. I found him 
with his pencil in his hand. 

The most curious piece in his collection, 
was one painted when he was eight years old. 
It was small, and very imperfect, he said ; but 
added, that the primary colours, blue, red, and 
yellow, were so justly blended that he could 
not improve that part of the work. On ask- 
ing if he had any previous instruction that en- 
abled him to go right in so important a par- 
ticular, he replied, no ; he could no more say 
how his judgment had been formed to it, than 
how he learned his mother tougue. 

The piece to which he pointed with most 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 133 

interest, was the " Continence of Scipio." It 
had been instrumental in bringing him into 
notice, forty years before. George III. sent 
for it, and kept it for some time at his palace. 
At his Majesty's request, he had painted a 
series of historical pieces, from the New Testa- 
ment. They were at Windsor — to be put up 
in a chapel the King contemplated building. 

The number of pieces in his rooms was very 
great. He had been computing the dimen- 
sions of a gallery, to contain all he had ever 
painted. He found that it would require one 
four hundred feet long, fifty broad, and forty 
high. The piece from Lear, in the Academy 
of Arts at Philadelphia, was, he said, among 
those with the execution of which he had been 
best satisfied. I spoke of his " Christ healing 
the sick," in the hospital at Philadelphia, re- 
marking how highly it was prized; all the town 
had flocked to see it. He spoke of a criticism 
upon it in Philadelphia, that had come under 
his notice ; said it was written in a scholar- 
.like manner, and with a perfect knowledge of 
the subject. He knew not the author, nor 
could I inform him. 

This eminent and venerable artist was then 
near eighty. A native American, born near 
Philadelphia, he adverted to scenes of his early 
life. I was enabled to understand some of 



134 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8, 

his local allusions. His patriarchal look and 
character gave me something of the filial feel- 
ing. What am I to do, I asked, as our con- 
versation proceeded, to be able to judge of 
paintings ? Wherever I go, I meet with them; 
in palaces, private houses, everywhere ; en- 
gravings rest in portfolios ; I see nothing but 
the works of your art, and all persons appear 
to have a knowledge of them ; I the rather 
ask, as there is a growing taste for the arts in 
the United States ; Republics have been cele- 
brated for them ; we cherish the hope that it 
may be our lot. He replied that he believed 
he could not do better, than name to me the 
discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Those 
productions, I said, but increased my despair; 
we knew them in Philadelphia ; they were in- 
genious, profound ; but what a universe they 
opened! — wider than the poet's in Rasselas ; 
it was boundless ; all kind of knowledge was 
necessary to the painter; and could we, with 
less, and without superadding the practice of 
the eye, become judges of painting ? He 
agreed that the art was boundless ; said that 
he every day saw something to learn in it ; 
told the anecdote of the clergyman who 
preached one of Sir Joshua's discourses from 
the pulpit, omitting technical words, as a proof 
of its foundation in the principles of man's 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 135 

general nature, and admitted that it could 
only be successfully studied in conjunction 
with practice ; in other words, that the eye 
could not gain a quick or sure perception of 
beauties and defects, but by familiarity with 
the best models. I said, it was this which gave 
to the English their facilities ; foreign travel 
was so common with them, that they saw the 
best models abroad, and then kept the eye in 
practice at home ; the Vatican, the Louvre, 
the Museum at the Hague, the galleries of 
Sans Souci, the collections in the Low Coun- 
tries and Spain, persons whom you met every 
day, had more or less seen. It was somewhat 
the same with books of travels. If you alluded 
to the latest in France, a gentleman by your 
side had been over the ground, and knew more 
than the book ; if you spoke of the Coliseum 
or St. Peter's, half the company had been at 
Rome ; and so of other places. He replied 
that it was true. Englishmen travelled a great 
deal ; ail did not bring back useful information 
in the arts, but so many went abroad, that 
the number was still great who did; hence 
there were more good judges of painting in 
England, than good painters ; it was rare to 
meet with a person of leisure and fortune who 
had not visited Italy and France, if not more 
countries ; England also contained more paint- 



136 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

ings than any other country, not in public de- 
positories, for there were none worth speaking 
of, but in private houses ; the rich bought up 
the best upon the Continent, wherever to be 
had ; he would be glad to point out the private 
collections ; those of Lord Stafford and Lord 
Grosvenor stood at the head, but there were 
others scattered about town, and all over the 
country. He invited me to call, whenever I 
had an hour to throw away, and saunter through 
his own collection, for all that it might be 
worth to me, saying that he would saunter 
with me, being always at home. It was thus 
that he received and talked to me. Once there 
was a tear, that the early recollections of his 
native land seemed to have drawn down; I 
felt in his fame the interest of a countryman, 
In his whole manner there was a cordiality 
which also inspired personal attachment even 
in a first interview. As often as I saw him 
afterwards, it was with renewed pleasure and 
advantage ; but it was not long, before Lwas 
summoned to bear his pall. 

March 27. We were entertained at dinner 
by Mr. and Lady Sarah Lyttelton. Mr. Lyt- 
telton is in Parliament, and heir presumptive 
to Hagley, with the title of its possessor. I 
spoke of the letters in the name of one of his 
family, lie said it was an admitted point that 



1 8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 137 

they had not been written by Lord Lyttelton. 
Sir Humphrey Davy was at table. The news- 
men had been blowing horns on a false rumour 
of Bonaparte's death. " When that happens/' 
said Sir Humphrey, " Europe will fly up, 
compression being off." We had also Lady 
Davy, Miss Fanshawe, Earl Spencer, Lord 
Folkstone, and Mr. Luttrell. There was a flow 
of conversation that gives charm to a dinner- 
party ; our reception having been as friendly 
as courteous by this accomplished pair. 

March 29. Dined at Lord Holland's. His 
Lordship and Lady Holland, the Marquis of 
Lansdowne, Lord Morpeth, Lord Maitland, 
Sir James Macintosh, and Mr. Tierney, were 
of the company. 

Lord Holland spoke of the institutions of 
the United States. Our system, he said, ap- 
peared suited to our circumstances ; he hoped 
we would not put it to risk by a fondness for 
war ; was there no fear that the excitements 
apt to arise under popular forms, and the cou- 
rage that springs from freedom, might make 
us prone to war X I replied, that our reliance 
was in the checks which our constitution raised 
up, and chiefly, that the people, who must suf- 
fer from war, were the power who alone, by 
their representatives, could declare it. He 
bore testimony to the merit of President 



138 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

Monroe, whom he had known in personal and 
official relations, saying that in such hands 
our Republic, as far as depended on the chief 
magistrate, might always be considered safe. 

I asked Sir James Macintosh, when we were 
to be favoured with the history the public had 
been led to hope he was preparing. He spoke 
doubtfully. Hume was mentioned. He could 
not always agree with him, he said, but com- 
mended the general spirit of his history ; the 
whole, indeed, was masterly ; the best portion, 
that which comprised the reigns of the Tudors, 
particularly Elizabeth's. He spoke of Robert- 
son and Gibbon ; both were careful inquirers 
into facts ; Gibbon's research was profound, 
but he saw objections to his style. He spoke 
of Franklin's style with nothing but praise. It 
was more than pure ; it was classic. It was 
neither the style of Addison nor Swift; it had 
the simplicity of theirs, but an original and 
graceful playfulness not carried too far, which 
neither of the others had in so great a degree. 
Lord Holland asked if it could be true that 
his works, and especially his style, were not 
popular in the United States ; he had seen late 
publications seeming to point that way. My 
own knowledge and observation, I said, would 
lead me to a different conclusion as to the 
opinions of my countrymen. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 139 

Holland House, where we dined, four miles 
from London, is a venerable building. Among 
other associations that go with it, is the name 
of Addison. He lived here, after his marriage 
to the Countess of Warwick. After dinner we 
went into the room that had been his library. 
It is now Lord Holland's. It is very long. 
Addison was not happy in his marriage ; and 
the jocose tradition is, that he kept his bottle 
at each end of the room, so that in his walks 
backwards and forwards he might take a glass 
at each ! It was in this room he wrote his 
despatches when Secretary of State. The Spec- 
tator being mentioned, Sir James said, that it 
had lost its value as a book of instruction, but 
as a standard of style would always last. I 
listened with interest to these and other re- 
marks from him. His speeches and writings, 
read on the banks of the Delaware as those of 
the Thames, had taught me to regard his mind 
as kindred to Burke's ; the same elementary 
power ; the same application of the philosophy 
of politics and jurisprudence to practical oc- 
currences ; the same use of history never hea- 
vily but always happily brought in ; the same 
aptitude for embellishment, not so gorgeous, 
but always chaste ; the same universal wisdom. 

I resumed the topic of his history. I said, 
that when he got to the American revolution 



140 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

we should, on our side of the Atlantic, open 
his pages with peculiar interest. That we 
believed the full and proper account of it had 
not yet gone forth to the world ; that among 
us were still left a few who were contemporary 
with it ; their minds were the repositories of 
facts and reflections which, if not rescued in 
time, would perish. I instanced particularly, 
Mr. Jefferson and the elder Adams. The life 
of each hung by a thread ; but their faculties 
were unimpaired. If he thought it worth 
while to embark in a correspondence with these 
fathers of our country, who, like himself, could 
have no object but truth, I would be happy to 
be the medium of its commencement, Some 
light he might hope to gleam ; and if, examin- 
ing also for himself, he should find it the light 
of truth, would it not be worthy of both na- 
tions to establish this part of their common 
history, on a basis that both might approve? 
He caught at the suggestion, and followed it 
up with inquiries, saying he would avail him- 
self of it. But it was not acted upon. I do 
not believe the omission arose from any di- 
minished sense of the value of the aid he would 
probably have derived; but other causes. His 
parliamentary engagements took up much of 
his time; those at the India College had their 
claims ; and shall I add, as another and natural 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 141 

hindrance, the claims of daily society upon him 
in the highest spheres, uniting as he did, the 
ease of the man of the world, to intellectual 
stores attractive and inexhaustible. Such men 
grow into favourites in these spheres in Lon- 
don. Chains are thrown round them, not easy 
to break.* 

The conversation from which I have mi- 
nuted a small part, took place after we had 
risen from dinner, and were in the library. At 
table it was suited to the moment, and with 
the moment passing away. Of hospitality as 
dispensed by Lord Holland I had heard ; of 
its kindness, its elegance. His standing as a 
peer is known. Not less, the many attain- 
ments which he makes subservient to the plea- 
sures of society and friendship. In his house, 
opulence and refinement seem to lend their 
aids to invest letters with glory. The room in 
which we dined w T as richly ornamented. I un- 

* Few things are more striking in England than the way 
in which Statesmen, the busiest and most distinguished,, and 
men of affairs, contrive to unite these claims of society, 
with all other engrossing claims upon their time, but they 
do manage it. Of course it can only be by great industry 
and activity, combined with subdivision and method, for 
which latter the present Premier of England is said to be 
remarkable. Nowhere is economy of time better understood 
and more successfully practised than among the classes here 
referred to. 



142 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

derstood that it had been painted and gilded 
as I saw, by one of Lord Holland's ancestors 
in the time of Charles I. on the occasion of a 
fete given to Henrietta his Queen, when she 
came over from France. 

I must mention an incident at one of the 
Holland House dinners, though I was not pre- 
I sent. Scott's novels became a topic, a new one 
being out. One or two of the company ex- 
pressed preferences among them. Before opi- 
nion had gone farther, Lady Holland proposed 
that each person should write down the name 
of the novel liked best. Paper and pencil were 
passed, and a slip torn off as each wrote. Nine 
were handed to her, and each had the name of 
a different novel ! — a happy illustration of the 
various merit of this fascinating writer. 

April 1. Went to Deptford with Sir Hum- 
phrey Davy. His carriage was at the door 
when I drove up at an early hour to his house. 
An accident happening to it, he took a seat in 
mine. Our conversation was chiefly about 
the United States, he leading it by his rapid, 
intelligent inquiries. One subject of our ex- 
cursion was, to see the ships fitting out for the 
Polar voyage. We went on board the Isa- 
' bella. Outside she looked like any common 
merchant-vessel equipped for boisterous seas. 
There was double planking round her bow 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 143 

and sides to resist ice. The interior arrange- 
ments embraced whatever science could devise 
and mechanical skill effect to promote the ob- 
jects of the expedition and comfort of the 
officers and men. Flues for diffusing heated 
air through the ship, nautical and philoso- 
phical instruments, with a library that seemed 
to contain the accounts of all former voyages 
of discovery were to be seen. Parliament, to 
increase the zeal of the officers, had included 
them within the promise of reward to those 
who ascertained most nearly the longitude. 
After going through nearly all parts of the 
ship, we went into the Naval Dockyard, and 
afterwards to Greenwich to see the Hospital. 

Deptford is the smallest of the English dock- 
yards. We saw but few ships-of-war. Only 
one of the line, and three frigates were build- 
ing. There were docks for repairing as well 
as building. We saw several royal yachts ; 
among them, a very old one, the same that had 
conveyed Caroline Matilda, sister of George 
III. to Denmark, on the occasion of her mar- 
riage to the king of that country. The Danes 
sent it back to England ; refusing to keep it 
after the attack upon their capital, and capture 
of their fleet by Britain, in 1801. Although 
this is the smallest of the yards, it is not with- 
out importance, from being so near London. 



144 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

The business of supplying the navy with pro- 
visions is, or until lately was, carried on from 
a depot adjoining it. Sir Humphrey spoke of 
their excellent quality, remarking how much 
the strength and courage of seamen depended 
upon food. They got, he said, bread and beef 
of the best quality, and in full quantity ; an 
ample allowance of malt liquor ; wine and 
cocoa, with all other things proper for the sea 
ration. In the timber piled up in the yard, I 
observed mahogany. The Commissioner said, 
it was used, not merely for decks, as in the 
royal yachts, but with advantage, as knees and 
beams in heavy ships. The timber of all kinds 
on hand in the yard, generally amounted to a 
supply for three years. It consisted of English 
oak chiefly; but they also got supplies of foreign 
timber. A quantity was soon expected from 
the forests of Croatia and Dalmatia, under 
contracts with the Government of Vienna. 
They also obtained it from the Baltic. This 
they thought good w r hen cut from the southern 
shores. From their North American posses- 
sions they did not get much, except for large 
masts. The attachments of George III. to the 
navy were spoken of, his feelings as monarch 
being seconded, as was said, by a personal 
fondness for naval architecture and affairs of 
the sea. He had first evinced them in pro- 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 145 

moting the voyages of Byron and Cook, as 
soon &s he got to the throne. It was added, 
that at Buckingham Palace, he was furnished 
with models of the dock-yards, and, occasion- 
ally, of the vessels building ; which he took an 
interest in examining. These modes of exert- 
ing a superintendence over the navy, seem 
better in themselves, and, it must be owned, 
more befitted a sovereign, than if he had turned 
ship-carpenter, like Peter of Russia. The 
yard at Deptford was one of those in which 
that eccentric monarch worked. 

Commissioner Cunningham received us very 
kindly at his house within the yard. He 
would not allow us to depart without par- 
taking of a collation. 

We proceeded on towards Greenwich. Go- 
ing through the streets, and stopping a mo- 
ment, an incident arrested my attention. A 
woman stood at the door of a house where 
cheap refreshments were sold. Some common 
people passing, she called to ask if they would 
take tea. It was about one o'clock. Houses 
of this kind, I understood, were not uncom- 
mon in London. I had myself observed tea 
sold in the streets near Charing Cross, by 
huckster women, who obtained the boiling 
water by means of coals in a pan, or lamp. 
In a country where the light wines are not 
produced, the first step into temperance is 
small beer ; the next tea. The national schools 

L 



146 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

in England have done much towards meliora- 
ting the condition of her people. The use of 
tea has co-operated, by doing more of late years, 
probably, than any other physical cause, to- f 
wards lessening the appetite for ardent spirits, f 
It acts not so much by reclaiming old drunk- ! 
ards, as diminishing the stock of new. What j 
a sight to see this woman beckoning labouring 
men to tea, instead of drams ! The use of tea ' 
in England is universal. It is the breakfast f 
of the wealthy, as of the poorer classes. On 
rising from the sumptuous dinner, coffee is first 
handed ; but black tea comes afterwards. A 
general of the Duke of Wellington's army told 
me, that when worn down with fatigue, there 
was nothing for which the officers in the Pen- 
insular war used to call so eagerly, as tea. 
Servants in London take it twice a day, some- 
times oftener, and the occurrence at Greenwich 
shows the taste for it to be spreading among I 
labouring classes at all hours. 

We soon got near the Hospital. The day 
was fine. I saw, as we approached, men in 
uniform. They had a blue coat, full in front, 
flapped waistcoat, with breeches and stockings. 
All had three-cornered hats. Until we crot 
near, a stranger might have taken them for an 
assemblage of old admirals. They were the 
pensioners — common seamen. Some were sun- 
ning themselves in seats. Others moved slowly 
about. I heard no talking from any. Al- 



any 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 147 

together, they had a venerable appearance. 
Arrived within the high palisades of iron, I 
was struck with the extent and grandeur of 
the building. Domes ; single and double rows 
of columns; flights of solid steps ; Corinthian 
porticoes — met the eye on all sides. The 
whole was of Portland stone, and on a terrace 
fronting the Thames. I had heard that Eng- 
lish hospitals, were like palaces. The one 
before me far exceeded any palace I had be- 
held. The interior corresponded with the 
outside. There was space, neatness, universal 
order. The number of pensioners drawing 
the funds of the institution was more than 
thirty thousand. Those accommodated within 
the building, amounted to about three thou- 
sand. A Naval Asylum for minors is annexed, 
where are eight hundred boys, and two hundred 
girls, children of British seamen. These are 
educated, and otherwise provided for. Some 
of the apartments of the Hospital, as the chapel 
and great hall, are superbly ornamented. In 
the first is the Shipwreck of St. Paul, a large 
painting by West. It fills the space over the 
altar, to which you ascend by a range of black 
marble steps. There are representations of 
Christ stilling the tempest and walking upon 
the waves, with various other costly emblems 
from the pencil and chisel, having relation to 
the sea. In the great hall, the ceiling ex- 
hibits paintings which years of labouring art 

l2 



148 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

had been necessary to perfect. They portray, 
under appropriate allegories, astronomical and 
nautical science, intermingled with insignia of 
the naval glory of England. Probably no 
age or nation can show a charity more 
splendid ; the first approacli so imposing, the 
minute examination so calculated to augment 
admiration. 

But there arose a reflection that I could not 
repress. Many of the veterans whom I saw, 
had, doubtless, fought under the compulsion 
of impressment. As I looked on their hoary 
locks and scarred faces, I thought that a 
country treating its seamen thus, was bound 
to lodge them like kings, when old or wound- 
ed ; that in fact, it was only a payment back, 
and not adequate, for the previous infliction 
of such a wrong. It is to me an unaccountable 
anomaly, that a nation in which individual 
rights are guarded by barriers such as no other 
ever raised up, except the nation in the New 
World that springs from her; who would 
wade through blood sooner than part with her 
Habeas Corpus, or trial by jury, should yet 
sit calmly down under this unjust and tyran- 
nical practice. It is said that her navy cannot 
otherwise be manned. Poor excuse ! as if it 
were not universally true, that labour of any 
kind can be commanded by paying for it, and 
of course labour upon the ocean, with the risk 
of battle and death ; and as if, supposing it to 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 149 

cost ten times over what would be asked, it 
ought not to be paid, sooner than such an out- 
rage be committed ! The statesmen, the philan- 
thropists of England will at last awake from 
this dream of supposed necessity for the press- 
gang. It will cease, and the wonder be, that 
any arguments for sustaining it could have 
been made current so long. There have, it is 
true, been states ancient and modern, that 
have resorted to force for obtaining military 
service; but it has generally been for tempo- 
rary purposes. Where this has not been the 
case, the states have been those in which per- 
sonal rights have been imperfectly protected. 
The precedents are to be shunned, not copied ; 
especially by a nation whose fundamental code 
looks to the inviolability of personal liberty 
in a degree far above that of the civil law of 
Rome, or any of the codes of Continental 
Europe engrafted upon it. I did not volunteer 
my thoughts upon my English companion ; but 
if I had, I scarcely think that dissent would 
have come from his liberal mind, accustomed 
as it was to analyze and reason.* 

* Anxious to arrive at the exact state of the English Law, 
in this respect, as it now stands, the writer sought the best 
information, and here subjoins an extract from the reply of 
an enlightened English friend : — " I think there can be no 
doubt that the right of Impressment is at this moment ex- 
isting. It appears to be part of the Common Law of England, 
limited and defined by a series of statutes since the reign of 
Richard II., but never abrogated. The last statute on the 



150 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

We visited in the last place the Observatory 
at Greenwich. Mr. Pond, the astronomer- 
royal, received us in the same hospitable man- 
ner as Commissioner Cunningham. We as- 
cended to the top of the edifice, seeing all the 
astronomical instruments in use. When chro- 
nometers were spoken of, it was stated, that 
the Government ordered twelve to be made 
every year by the best watch-makers in Lon- 
don. For the one which kept the most accu- 
rate time, a premium was given ; for the next 
best, a diminished premium ; and the remain- 
ing ten, if approved, were taken at fair prices. 
All were for the use of the public ships. In 
this w r ay competition was kept up, no watch- 
maker suffered loss, and the navy got a supply 
of the best instruments for measuring time in 
all latitudes. The hour for our return press- 
ing, we hastened back to town, after a day 
which, to me, had been one of great variety 
and interest. The Secretary of Legation, and 
Captain Thompson of the navy of the United 

subject, 5 & 6 W. IV., c. 24, limits the time for which a 
man may be taken to five years. I have not been able to 
ascertain the time when the last press gang was sent out, 
and it would, I should think, be very difficult to get this 
information. But as it seems men were not impressed except 
under stress of war, I suspect that the right has been in 
abeyance since 1815. It is pretty safe to prophecy, I think, 
that the right is one which will remain in abeyance." 

Nevertheless it seems scarcely credible that this blot upon 
the English statute book should be suffered to remain. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 151 

States, were of the party. Sir Humphrey's 
ardour of conversation did not abate going 
home. 

April 2. Dined at Prince Esterhazy's. 
Company — the diplomatic corps and their 
ladies, The dinner was one to have been ex- 
pected from the munificence of the entertainer. 
Among a variety of wines, we had hock. By 
Austrian connoisseurs, this is not prized so 
much on account of its age, as original quality. 
When best, they think it does not improve 
after twelve or fifteen. Perhaps no wine does. 
The preference at English as at foreign tables 
in London, is for the light wines ; the strong, 
as Madeira and Sherry, are little used : Sherry 
most. Generally, it is limited to a single glass 
after soup. With the latter every dinner be- 
gins. Turbot follows, before the meats are 
uncovered.* We had French cookery, in its 
perfection. This I find at English, as foreign 
tables. Mr. Morris, American Minister in 
France at the time of the revolution, said, that 
if the French had revolutionized the kitchens 
of Europe instead of its courts, they w r ould 
have rendered a service that no party would 
have called in question. He was right. Food 
simply roasted, or boiled is thought temper- 
ance. The French know better, and that to 
render it simple as well as savoury, a process 

* Turbot is doubtless used here as notnen generalissimum. 



152 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

more artificial is required. Hence, the made 
dishes, like the light wines of France, promote 
health and cheerfulness. Oppression seldom 
follows indulgence in them ; gout as rarely. 

Talking with the Prince after coming out 
from dinner, we spoke of the campaigns of 
Frederick. There is a pretty little fact with 
which he was familiar on my allusion to it. 
After Berlin was taken by the Austrians and 
Russians, the soldiers gave themselves up to 
plunder. An officer high in rank was seen to 
protect the palace at Potsdam. He would 
suffer nothing to be touched ; but asked as a 
favour to be allowed to take a small picture of 
Frederick, and one of his flutes, that he might 
preserve them as memorials of so great a war- 
rior and king. This officer was Prince Ester- 
hazy, a relative, as I learned, of our accom- 
plished host.* 

Although no political relations existed be- 
tween the United States and Austria, I re- 
ceived from this her ambassador in London, 

* The name of the Great Frederick naturally suggests that 
of the Great Emperor King who now rules over united Ger- 
many, and leads the mind irresistibly to the great German 
People ; a People whose solid qualities, domestic and stern 
virtues, conspicuously their love of truth, 

" Wo ein ja, ein ja, und ein nein, ein nein, ist ;" 
whose simplicity, yet nobility of character, developed by 
high education, and invincible courage, point them out as 
destined to a mighty future upon the Continent of Europe. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 153 

invariable marks of esteem during my resi- 
dence. 

April 3. We dined at Earl Bathurst's. 
Earl and Countess Bathurst, the Duke of 
York, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of 
Montrose, Lord Lynedoch, Mr. and Mrs. Vil- 
liers, Sir Henry Torrens, General Maitland, 
Mr. Goulburn, and a few others, were the 
company. 

Conversation turned upon the United States; 
their climate, government, productions, steam- 
boats. On a question respecting the width of 
a river in one of the States, I was at fault. 
One of the Royal Dukes put me right. Both 
of them spoke of our Constitution. They 
asked how the Senate and Supreme Court 
were modelled, not well perceiving the line 
between the National and State authorities. 
I endeavoured in a few words to explain ; 
which it was not easy to do, in a few words ; 
and it was no place for dissertation. The 
Colonization society became a topic. Its ob- 
jects were approved. Inquiries were made as 
to the amount of our slave population, the 
ratio of increase, and others bearing on this 
subject. I answered with an admission of the 
general evil of slavery in the United States ; 
but added that there were great mitigations in 
the good treatment of the slaves. To this the 
exceptions, I said, were rare, and scarcely 
known at all, among the better classes of our 



154 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

Southern planters. The effect of good treat- 
ment was, to diffuse in a large degree content 
and happiness among the slaves. Conciliatory 
statements towards the United States ran 
throughout all the conversation. 

At eleven, we left the table. An hour passed 
in the drawing-room, where conversation was 
continued. 

April 8. The Princess Elizabeth was mar- 
ried last evening to the Prince of Hesse 
Hombero;. The cabinet ministers, foreign 
ambassadors and ministers, officers of the royal 
household, persons in the suites of the Royal 
Dukes and Princesses, the Archbishops of 
Canterbury and York, the Bishop of London, 
the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice 
were present. The Prince Regent was not 
there, being ill. Our invitation was from the 
Queen, given through the Earl of Winchelsea, 
nearly three weeks before. 

We got to the palace at seven o'clock. 
Pages were on the stairs to conduct us to the 
rooms. The ceremony took place in the 
throne-room. Before the throne was an altar 
covered with crimson velvet. A profusion of 
golden plate was upon it. There was a salver 
of great size on which was represented the 
Lord's Supper. The company being assem- 
bled, the bridegroom entered, with his attend- 
ants. Then came the Queen, with the bride 
and royal family. All approached the altar. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 155 

Her Majesty sat ; the rest stood. The mar- 
riage service was read by the Archbishop of 
Canterbury. The Duke of York gave the 
bride away. The whole was according to the 
forms of the Church, and performed with great 
solemnity. A record of the marriage was 
made. When all was finished, the bride knelt 
before the Queen to receive her blessing. 

The consent of the King (or Regent) and 
Privy Council, is necessary to the validity of a 
royal marriage in England. There is another 
mode, where the party intending to marry, and 
being of the male branch, is of the age of 
twenty-six. In such case a record of the in- 
tention on the books of the Privy Council will 
authorize the marriage at the expiration of a 
twelvemonth, unless Parliament interpose an 
objection. 

Soon after the service was performed, the 
bride and bridegroom set off for Windsor. 
The company remained. The evening passed 
in high ceremony, without excluding social 
ease. From the members of the Royal family, 
the guests had every measure of courtesy. 
The bearing of the Queen deserves special 
mention. This venerable personage, the head 
of a large family — her children then clustering 
about her ; the female head of a great empire — 
in the seventy-sixth year of her age — went the 
rounds of the company, speaking to all. There 
was a kindliness about her manner from which 



156 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

time had struck away useless forms. No one 
did she omit. Around her neck hung a minia- 
ture portrait of the King. He was absent, 
scathed by the hand of Heaven ; a marriage 
going on in one of his palaces ; he, the lonely, 
suffering tenant of another. But the portrait 
was a token superior to a crown ! It bespoke 
the natural glory of wife and mother, eclipsing 
the artificial glory of Queen. For more than 
fifty years this royal pair had lived together in 
affection. The scene would have been one of 
interest anywhere. May it not be noticed on 
a throne ? 

Tea was handed. The Queen continued to 
stand, or move about the rooms. In one was 
a table of refreshments. I went to it with 
Major-General Sir Henry Torrens, distinguish- 
ed by service and wounds, whose acquaint- 
ance I had made at Lord Bathurst's. He was 
of the establishment of the Duke of York. 
On the table were urns and tea-kettles of 
fretted gold. Sir Henry recommended me to 
a glass of what I supposed wine, in a flagon 
near me ; but he called it king's cup 9 given 
only at royal weddings.* 

Returning to the chief rooms, the Princess 

* This was tlie solitary fact, mentioned by the Author, 
which the writer remembers to have heard called in question 
when this book first appeared, and it is quite possible that 
he may have misapprehended his informant. Happily the 
error, if error it be, is not a grave one. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 157 

Sophia Matilda pointed out to Mrs. Rush and 
myself the paintings, the representation of a 
bird from India formed of precious stones so 
as to resemble beautiful plumage, with other 
objects of curiosity or taste. * She did more. 
She spoke of Washington. She paid a spon- 
taneous tribute to his virtues. None but Ame- 
ricans can know how this would fall upon the 
heart. To hear his immortal name pro- 
nounced with praise in a palace of George 
III., had a high and touching value. Men- 
tioning this Princess, I add, that myself and 
family afterwards experienced her obliging at- 
tentions in ways the remembrance of which is 
cherished with grateful pleasure. 

At ten the company came away. 

April 9. Dined at Lord Bagot's. We had 
the Earl of Mount-Edgecumbe, Lady Emma 
Edgecumbe, the Duchess of Leeds, the Coun- 
tess of Dartmouth, Mr. Disbrow, Vice Cham- 
berlain to the Queen, the Bishop of Oxford, 
and several Members of Parliament. The 
conversation had frequent allusions to the 
United States, their public institutions, and 
private society. The royal marriage was talk- 
ed of. Lord Mount-Edgecumbe, who had 
been much an inmate of the palace, told anec- 
dotes of the Queen illustrative of her domestic 
virtues. Another topic was, the attempt on 
the life of Lord Palmerston, Secretary-of-War. 
He was shot at and wounded, going: into Ins 



158 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

office at the Horse Guards, yesterday.* The 
person who fired was supposed to be deranged. 
His acquittal was anticipated on this ground, 
as with Margaret Nicholson, and Hadfield, 
who attempted to assassinate the King. Whe- 
ther the life of their King or the lowest sub- 
ject be struck at, let the law have its course is 
the cry in England. Their code is sanguinary, 
but all are bound by it, all look up to it. One 
of the company considered the law too lenient 
upon these attempts to assassinate kings and 
their ministers ; they recurred too often ; he 
would punish the offender in the persons of his 
relations, as well as his own ; as had been done 
with the Ravillacs and Damiens in France. 
This opinion found no countenance. It was 
canvassed with sprightliness. 

After dinner an evening party followed. We 
had an invitation from Lord Bagot, to visit 
him at his country estate, Blithfield ; and Lord 
Mount-Edgecumbe invited us to his, near 
Plymouth. 

* The first mention of this great English Statesman, as 
he subsequently became, may perhaps justify the writer in 
here recording his recollections of the attractiveness of his 
intercourse, whether official or social. Foreign Secretary 
between the years 1837 and 1841, it happened to him 
while occasionally left in charge of the United States Lega- 
tion, to see much of that distinguished English Minister, in 
whom he always found a conciliatory disposition towards 
America, united with a personal courtesy, enhanced often by 
the sprightly vein which belonged to his character, and 
which so impressed itself upon all who knew him, 



I 8 I 8. COURT OF LONDON. 159 



CHAPTER XIL 

INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH.-— GENERAL NE- 
GOCIATIONS PROPOSED ON THE WEST INDIA TRADE, 

MARITIME QUESTIONS AND IMPRESSMENT. NATURE 

OF THE LAST QUESTION. — THE SLAVE TRADE. 

OFFER OF BRITISH MEDIATION IN THE AFFAIRS OF 
THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN. — DINNER AT MR. 

WILBERFORCE'S AT THE EARL OF HARDWICKE ? S. — 

ALMACK'S. — LATE HOURS. — COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE. 

April 11, 1818. Had an interview with 
Lord Castlereagh. I asked it, to apprize him 
of the desire of my Government to open nego- 
tiations for a general treaty of commerce, and 
arrange other matters of importance to both 
countries. 

It was the wish of the President, I said, to 
see the commercial relations between the two 
countries placed upon a basis broader and 
more permanent than hitherto. The existino; 
convention was not only limited as to time, but 
objects. The period not being remote when it 
would expire, it was desirable that the Pre- 
sident should know the probable determina- 
tion of His Majesty's Government as to form- 



160 RESIDENCE AT THE 1 8 I 8. 

ing one of a different character ; one which, if 
not comprehending all the colonies of Great 
Britain, should at least include those in North 
America and the West Indies. I was aware 
of her past unwillingness to treat of this, and 
other subjects I should name ; but had been 
instructed to present them anew, in the hope 
of other views prevailing. In this event, I was 
furnished with a full power to negotiate a 
treaty of the nature indicated. 

Lord Castlereagh was candid in reply. He 
said, that he could hold out no encouragement 
towards a treaty so comprehensive ; too many 
interests hung upon their colonial dominion in 
the quarter mentioned. It would operate like 
a revolution in their commercial s}^stem. But 
I might be assured, that the determination of 
Great Britain not to bring the trade of those 
islands and colonies under such, or any, ar- 
rangements by treaty, arose from no unfriendly 
feeling. It was only continuing a policy long 
established. Hence, no complaints would be 
made if the United States adopted countervail- 
ing measures ; more especially if, not being 
vindictive, they were merely based upon fair 
competition. I replied, that the latter was the 
spirit alone in which they would be resorted 
to; that as Great Britain guarded her commer- 
cial interests very scrupulously, and in con- 
nexion with them those of her tonnage, the 
United States must do the same. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 161 

This subject being for the present disposed 
of, I passed to others. A time of general peace, 
as lately intimated by his lordship, seemed, I 
said, the proper time for settling points which, 
although of no immediate importance, were 
highly so in the future. The President was 
therefore desirous to take advantage of it, in 
the hope of being able to arrange the most 
important of this description ; such as, trade 
with the colonies of enemies during war; that 
between colonies and the parent country ; that 
from port to port of an enemy ; the list of 
articles contraband ; the doctrine of blockade, 
and the question of impressment. Past ex- 
perience had shown the tendency of conflicting 
opinions on these points to embroil neutrals 
and belligerents; it had been unhappily too 
much the case as between Great Britain and 
the United States ; the season when both 
parties were free from the excitements of mo- 
mentary feeling or interest, was auspicious to 
attempts for adjusting them amicably, and I 
was empowered to enter upon negotiations on 
them all. 

Lord Castlereagh replied by concurring in 
the fitness of the time to the objects. He first 
spoke of blockade. Upon this point he be- 
lieved the two Governments were agreed, and 
asked if they were not ? I said that my Go- 
vernment was satisfied with the definition of 
blockade adopted by England in Lord St. 

M 



162 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

Helen's convention with Russia of 1801 ; but 
that it was the President's desire to have the 
point placed upon an exact footing, by com- 
pact between the two nations. Not much 
passed upon this, and scarcely any thing upon 
other points, both of us agreeing, that even if 
there could be an understanding upon them 
all, a treaty would be of little value that did 
not also comprehend that of impressment. To 
this question he therefore came, as of absorb- 
ing importance. 

It is one prominent in the negotiations be- 
tween the two Governments. I will therefore, 
before stating what was said on this first occa- 
sion of its being broached under my mission, 
offer some general account of it. It may be 
understood by those who are not politicians, 
and its peculiarity may perhaps impart to it, 
in the eyes of such, some share of interest. 
To many of the rising generation it is also in 
a great measure new, and to be learned only 
through numerous and detached state papers, 
not always at command but in the libraries of 
public men. 

Great Britain, as a measure of state policy, 
impresses her seamen to serve on board her 
ships-of-war ; in other words, takes them by 
force. The practice is one with which other 
nations have nothing to do, as long as it is 
confined to British seamen, the British domi- 
nions, and the decks of British vessels upon 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 163 

i 

the seas. It may seem at variance with the 
high standard of personal rights upon which 
her laws are set in other respects ; but that 
consideration is wholly for herself. 

But she claims the right of searching the 
vessels of other nations upon the seas, for her 
seamen ; and here begins the cause of com- 
plaint. For, how can the claim ever be en- 
forced consistently with what is due to other 
nations ? 

Let the steps by which the enforcement pro- 
ceeds be attended to. A British frigate, in 
time of war, meets an American merchant 
vessel at sea, boards her, and, under terror of 
her guns, takes out one of the crew. The 
boarding-lieutenant asserts, and, let it be ad- 
mitted, believes, the man to be a Briton. By 
this proceeding the rules observed in deciding 
upon any other fact where individual or na- 
tional rights are at stake, are overlooked. The 
lieutenant is accuser and judge. He decides 
upon his own view, instantly. The impressed 
man is forced into the frigate's boat, and the 
case ends. No appeal follows. There is no 
trial of any kind. More important still, there 
is no remedy, should it appear that a wrong 
v has been committed. 

r Different is the mode of proceeding if an 
is American merchant-vessel be stopped and ex- 
j. amined at sea under circumstances subjecting 
q her to suspicion as prize of war. In the latter 

m 2 



164 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8, 

case, the boarding- officer sends the vessel into 
port under accusation. Facts are inquired into 
judicially. Both parties are heard. Both have 
ample opportunities of bringing forward proofs. 
Should the tribunal decide that no lawful cause 
of seizure existed, the vessel is restored, the 
captors are answerable in damages, and there 
are adequate modes of making them pay. If, 
on the other hand, the man seized be in fact 
no Briton, the most he can ever hope for is, 
merely to be released. This can only take 
place after he has been kept an indefinite 
length of time on board the frigate, put to 
duty, and perhaps made to fight. He may be 
slain in battle. If this fate does not await 
him, his subsequent liberation, from the nature 
of the case, can only be effected at a distant 
day, and is not certain at last. He may not 
be able, whilst on board the frigate, to obtain 
documents to show that he is not a Briton. 
He may be transferred to some other vessel of 
war. Even to trace him through a navy scat- 
tered over all seas, must become to his country 
or friends a difficult, often a hopeless task. 
Should the chances, multiplied as they are 
against him, all turn out in his favour, and the 
order for his discharge be obtained, where is 
his action for damages ? where his remedy for 
loss of liberty ? — He has none ! 

A claim so ex parte in the whole enforce- 
ment, so intrinsically open to error, and the 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 165 

error so fatal, cannot, it should seem, rest upon 
public law. The United States say that it 
does not. They have never denied to Great 
Britain the right of search. They allege, 
however, that this means search for enemy's 
property, or articles contraband of war, not 
search for men. They say that no public code, 
or other adequate authority, has ever estab- 
lished the latter as an international right. If 
its exercise by any other State than Great 
Britain can be shown, the instances are averred 
to be too few, and too devoid of the evidences 
of general consent, to have made it part of the 
law of nations. 

Great Britain places her claim on the ground 
of natural allegiance. She alleges that, by a 
principle of universal law, a man owes this 
kind of allegiance to the country of his birth. 
That he never can shake it off. That as his 
country protects him, so it may demand his 
services in return ; especially in time of war. 

The United States reply, that the principle 
of natural allegiance, however cherished by 
some states, is not universal. Sir William 
Blackstone, in his Commentaries, so able for 
the most part, lays it down as universal. But 
he refers for support, only to the writers of 
England. Puffendorf holds that allegiance 
may be put off. So do Grotius and Bynkers- 
! hoek. If we choose to go as far back as the 
1 Justinian code, we shall there find the same 



166 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

doctrine. The principle of perpetual allegi- 
ance may be held sacred by Britain ; it may be 
of the highest practical importance under her 
own system; but the United States say, that 
its operation should be confined to her own 
territorial dominions, and decks of her own 
merchant-vessels. There is scarcely an im- 
portant principle of public law that has not, at 
one time or other, had place in treaties among 
European States, the better to define or regu- 
late it. This is especially the case with prin- 
ciples that belong to maritime affairs. Would 
a right of such concern to all nations using the 
sea, as a sovereign's to enforce the allegiance 
of his own subjects in neutral vessels on its 
broad highway, have escaped notice in these 
solemn instruments between States ? Yet no 
treaty contains any thing in relation to it. 

The United States have been exposed to 
grievances from the exercise of the claim by 
Britain, heavier perhaps than ever fell to the 
lot of an independent nation. It springs from 
a cause rooted in nature, and irreversible ; the 
resemblance of their seamen to those of En£- 
land. Their language, dress,* sea-phrases, 
every thing, are alike. To discriminate, is in 
most cases impossible. Of this, the proof is 
incontestable. It here follows. 

Britain disavows, unequivocally, all claim 
to impress from American ships, any other 
seamen than her own. Her sense of justice 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 167 

would not allow her to set up any pretence 
of claim to take Americans ; vet these she 
unavoidably does take, and in numbers suffi- 
cient to surprise those not informed upon the 
subject. 

From a report made to Congress by the 
Secretary of State in April 1816, it appeared, 
that the impressed American seamen on board 
of British armed ships at the commencement 
of the war of 1812, a war occasioned chiefly 
by this cause, amounted to one thousand four 
hundred and twenty-two. Here is no exag- 
geration. The fact comes from the archives 
of Britain. It is taken from official lists, fur- 
nished by functionaries of the British Govern- 
ment to the American agent for prisoners of 
war in London. These men had been trans- 
ferred from English ships to English prisons, 
on the breaking out of the war, or during its 
progress. 

Furthermore. Britain, at a former period, 
liberated one thousand one hundred and 
thirty-two Americans who had been impressed 
prior to the month of September 1801. This 
fact also rests upon the authority of British 
archives, and was included in the same report 
to Congress. On the impressment of all these 
Americans, the British boarding-officers must 
have believed they were taking their own sub- 
jects ; else they took them knowing them to 
be Americans. Hence the difficulty not to be 



1G8 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

surmounted, of distinguishing American from 
British seamen. 

What then do we learn ? more than two 

THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AMERICAN CITIZENS, 

confessedly, the sufferers under this practice I 
and by no means the whole list. All were 
native Americans. No British seaman, natu- 
ralized in the United States, w r as ever, if im- 
pressed, given back again. Can Britain, whose 
pride and spirit have raised her to greatness^ 
and who must know how to respect such 
qualities in other nations, — can she, for a 
moment, wonder, that a practice leading to 
such consequences should excite the deepest 
sensation in the United States? 

She complains, that she is aggrieved by the 
number of her seamen who get into the mer- 
chant-service of the United States, through 
our naturalization laws and other causes. 
This takes from her, she alleges, the right 
arm of her defence. Without her navy, her 
existence, no less than her glory, might be 
endangered. It is therefore vital to both, 
that, when war comes, she should reclaim her 
seamen from the vessels of a nation where they 
are so frequently found. 

I have incidentally remarked in another 
place, that the naturalization laws of the 
United States are less favourable to foreigners 
than is generally supposed, and less than 
those of some of the principal states of Eu- 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 169 

rope. England has statutes, unless recently 
repealed, under which foreigners serving only 
two years in her navy, become naturalized : 
which is going much beyond any facilities 
afforded by the United States. As to other 
causes that may bring her seamen to their 
vessels, the United States can only reply, that 
they do not entice them. Seamen are birds of 
passage ; now under one flag, then another. 
Those of the United States often seek volun- 
tarily the service of other nations, as those 
of other nations voluntarily seek theirs. The 
British navy, it is well known, is manned by 
a large proportion of foreign seamen. Some 
go there of their own accord. The decks of 
all nations show, more or less, an intermin- 
gling of the seamen of all. But no country 
is more desirous of employing their native 
seamen than the United States. They know 
the value of British seamen ; nevertheless, 
they prefer their own. And why should it 
be thought that they have not enough of 
their own, as any other country whose in- 
terests and pursuits have long been maritime ? 
New England alone is more populous than 
was Holland, when her sailors swarmed ; and 
as maritime. " Her farms are upon the ocean," 
said one of her statesmen, " and she gathers 
her harvests from every sea." Hoav numerous 
her sailors were as long ago as when she 
made part of the British empire, British sta- 



170 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

tistics of that day may attest. This great 
nursery, passing by all other districts of a 
country with a vast sea coast, is perhaps suf- 
ficient to give to the United States as large a 
stock of seamen as they require. The supply, 
as in other fields, meets the demand. If ever 
interrupted by temporary causes, things soon 
return to this natural basis. 

The United States not only desire to foster 
their own seamen, but have gone farther. In 
the hope of terminating the dissension about 
impressment, they have shown a willingness, 
as the progress of this work will make known, 
to exclude British seamen entirely from their 
service. They do not desire to hide the fact 
that they come, often in large numbers. It 
is a fact, however, which British records will 
also attest, that the number of British seamen 
regained by impressment out of the vessels of 
the United States, falls far behind the number 
of Americans taken in their stead. Under 
this view alone of the practice, apart from all 
others, the injury to the United States is 
greater than the benefit to Britain. 

It is not immaterial to remark, that im- 
pressment, as a measure merely under the 
English laws and as exercised only in Eng- 
land, has a tendency to drive her seamen 
into the merchant-service of the United States 
on the breaking out of war. Obedient as the 
impressed British seaman may be to discipline 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 171 

when once on board a man-of-war of his 
country, it is not in human nature that he 
should like to be impressed. It is notorious 
that he does not. He dreads it. He tries to 
hide from the press-gang. His bold spirit 
would resist if he could ; and sometimes he 
seeks foreign decks to get out of the way. 

There is another heavy evil resulting to the 
United States. The voyages of their merchant- 
vessels are sometimes broken up by impress- 
ment. It is not to be supposed that they carry 
extra hands. Hence, when men are taken out 
of their vessels upon the high seas, it may 
happen, and has happened, that not enough 
are left for their safe navigation : and they 
have been compelled to make ports, other than 
of their first destination. 

The foregoing is an outline of the question, 
in its main features. It may serve to give 
some idea of the manner in which it operates 
upon the United States. As between the two 
nations, it is a question sui generis. To both 
it is of the last importance. The diplomatic 
history of the United States will show how re- 
peated and earnest have been their endeavours 
to settle it. The joint mission to London in 
1806, when Mr. Monroe and Mr. Pinckney 
were our negotiators, could effect nothing on 
this point ; and Mr. King's effort in 1803, 
successful in all other respects, was at last 
frustrated by Great Britain insisting on re- 



172 RESIDENCE AT THE 1 8 1 8- 

serving her right to impress within the narrow 
seas. To this doctrine of the mare clausum of 
her Selden, in opposition to the mare liberum 
of Grotius, the United States were not prepared 
to assent. 

I return to my interview with Lord Castle- 
reagh. He remarked, that intrinsic as were 
the difficulties respecting impressment, his de- 
sire was sincere to see them removed, and his 
efforts would be given with earnestness to re- 
move them. I assured him, that, under all my 
instructions, my efforts would be equally sin- 
cere and earnest. The conversation proceeded. 
We adverted to the principles maintained by 
our respective countries. He said, that the 
abuse of the practice, for he freely admitted its 
abuse, had been the result of the peculiar state 
of the world, all Europe having been at war, 
and America neutral. He did not believe that 
the desire to enforce their right to the same 
extent, would exist in future ; or that it would 
be drawn into exercise at all, if means could 
be devised to keep their men out of our ves- 
sels. I said, that the question never could be 
put to rest as long as a British naval officer 
was allowed to muster an American crew upon 
an American deck, to look for British seamen. 
Besides the indignity, so felt by all America, 
the inevitable consequences to which it must 
lead of subjecting Americans to seizure instead 
of Britons, would preclude for ever all hope of 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 173 

adjustment. The best mode we could devise 
of keeping British officers from our vessels on 
such errands, was that which he had hinted at ; 
namely to keep British seamen away altoge- 
ther. This we were desirous to do, as far as 
in our power. I promised to furnish him with 
a proposal to this effect ; and he, that it should 
have a liberal consideration. 

His lordship next spoke of the Slave-trade. 
The Government of Great Britain felt, he said, 
an increasing desire, that the Government of 
the United States should lend itself to mea- 
sures of regulation going forward in Europe for 
its extirpation. These were, mainly, a recipro- 
cal submission to the right of search for slaves, 
and a limited number of the armed vessels of 
each of the maritime states, to be empowered 
to search. It was contemplated to form out 
of an association of these, a species of inter- 
national police in the African seas, from which 
the best effects were anticipated. No unusual 
structure or appearances in the vessel searched ; 
no presence of irons or other presumptions of 
guilty intention ; nothing but the actual find- 
ing of slaves on board, was to authorize a sei- 
zure and detention. Great Britain had lately 
urged France on this subject ; but her consent 
could not, for obvious reasons, be made known, 
until the military occupation of her territory 
ceased. A recent vote, however, in both her 
chambers, on the principle of abolition, his 



174 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

lordship added, might safely be taken as a 
pledge of future co-operation. I replied, that I 
was wholly without instructions on the subject, 
but would transmit to my Government all that 
he said. The United States had long been 
aw?xke to the evils of the slave-trade. They 
had been the first nation to abolish it, un- 
less Denmark led the way, and had directed 
against it the penalties of their own laws. 

Before we separated, his lordship spoke of 
the late offer of Britain, through her minister 
at Washington, to mediate in our affairs with 
Spain. Although the offer had been refused, 
he desired to assure me that the refusal was 
taken in no unfriendly part ; the less, from its 
conciliatory manner. Britain had in like man- 
ner refused the mediation of Russia, offered 
during the late war with the United States, 
without any unfriendly feeling towards Russia, 
or any question of her impartial dispositions. 
He was about to say something farther on the 
affairs of Spain, but, the hour being late, de- 
ferred it. 

April 12. After my interview with Lord 
Castlereagh yesterday, I dined at Mr. Wilber- 
force's. Of the company, were Lord Teign- 
mouth, Lord Rocksavage, Lord Gambier, Mr. 
Babington of the House of Commons, Mr. 
Neal, with others, ladies as well as gentle- 
men. 

Many inquiries were made about the United 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 175 

States ; their commerce, revenue, population, 
literature, and state of religion. A friendly 
spirit characterized the inquiries and remarks. 
Mr. Wilberforce's fame as a philanthropist and 
Christian had been known to me. His par- 
liamentary labours, and those of his pen, had 
probably been more diffused over the United 
States than any country out of England. I 
expected to find him grave. He was full of 
animation, He led, without engrossing the 
conversation. His manner gave point to all 
that he said, and in his voice there were pe- 
culiarly eloquent intonations. He spoke of 
Mr. Pitt. They had been at school together. 
He was remarkable, he said, for excelling in 
mathematics ; there was also this peculiarity 
in his constitution, that he required a great 
deal of sleep, seldom being able to do with less 
than ten or eleven hours ; he would often drop 
asleep in the House of Commons ; once he had 
known him do so at seven in the evening, 
and sleep until day-light. The ease with which 
some persons wrote, and the labour it cost 
others, were spoken of. Burke, Pitt, Wind- 
ham, and Lord Ellenborough, were all great 
blotters, he said ; Burke had begun a history 
of England, but gave it over ; Windham's pow- 
ers of conversation exceeded those of Fox, Pitt, 
and all his contemporaries ; he even went be- 
yond Sheridan in wit. One of the company 
mentioned the name of a gentleman who had 



176 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

large possessions in the West Indies. There 
is, said Mr. Wilberforce, in grammar, what they 
call a disjunctive conjunction ; so there is in 
society. It is thus with that gentleman and 
me, he is so great a slave-holder ; but we do 
very well when we meet ; we pass by topics we 
should not agree upon, and exchange the small 
shot of conversation. The income-tax being; 
mentioned, he remarked, that having borne it 
once, they could bear it again ; it yielded fif- 
teen millions a-year, which would be good for 
a new loan of three hundred millions. 

These things all flowed from him happily. 
Lord Teignmouth and others made their con- 
tributions. We were invited and arrived at an 
early hour. It w r as midnight when we got 
home, so agreeably had the time passed. Most 
of the company were public professors of reli- 
gion, always the more attractive when in alli- 
ance with genius and accomplishments. 

April 13. Dined at the Earl of Hardwicke's. 
Lord Somers was of the party. English his- 
torical names as met in daily society, vividly 
arrest the attention of Americans. On this 
occasion I could not forget that I was with 
those of renown in the law ; Lord Hardwicke 
being the grandson of the Lord Chancellor of 
that title, and Lord Somers a descendant of 
Lord Chief Justice Somers. The interest was 
heightened by portraits of the two ancestors 
hanging in view, the families having intermar- 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 177 

ried. We had also Lord and Lady Caledon, 
Lady Somers, Lady Catharine Halket, Admiral 
Sir Joseph Yorke, and Mr. Montagu. 

The conversation turned upon France. 
Commendation was freely bestowed. Before 
coming to England, I had adopted an im- 
pression that the people were not prone to 
speak of the merits of their neighbours on the 
other side of the Channel. I remark the con- 
trary in the circles I frequent. Another ob- 
servation continues to force itself upon me ; 
their taste for foreign things. Among the 
embellishments of the table this evening, were 
some beautiful ornaments in silver, from 
France. Although the French take the lead 
in many of the finer manufactures, I had 
supposed that English plate was preferred, 
from the more copious use of it in England 
leading to superior excellence in its manufac- 
ture. The French use more abundantly the 
sumptuous porcelain. The English import 
that, in all its variety and costliness ; but 
French plate, it seems, is also imported. So it 
will always be with nations that are opulent. 
Tired even of their own forms of superiority, 
they seek novelty from abroad. 

Sir Joseph Yorke had been reading some of 
the official documents published by Congress, 
that treat of our navy. He made its condition 
the subject of complimentary remarks. 

It is not uncommon to hear, that at enter- 

N 



178 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

tainments there were all the luxuries of the 
season. In this metropolis, I witness con- 
stantly those out of season ; as, on this oc- 
casion, strawberries and pine-apples, recalling 
the " winter roses and summer snows" of the 
Roman poet ; cestivce nives, hybernce rosce. We 
had also tokay that had been thirty years 
in his lordship's cellar ; and, better than all, 
respectful things said of our country, with 
other attractive conversation. 

April 16. We were at Almack's last night. 
The younger part of the company danced. 
They were not the most numerous part. 
Statesmen, cabinet ministers and their ladies, 
peers, peeresses and their daughters, foreign 
ambassadors, and others, were present. In 
these circles, if all classes do not intermingle, 
all ages do. Gibbon, writing to Lord Sheffield 
from Paris, says, that Horace Walpole gave 
him a letter to Madame du Deffand, " an 
agreeable young lady of eighty -two" who had 
constant suppers at her house, and the best 
company. There may be seen in society in 
London, and as part of its ornaments, ladies 
whom I should set down as not much short 
of that youthful age. It would be doing in- 
justice to the stronger sex, to suppose that 
they give up sooner. 

We got to Almack's after having been at 
Covent Garden theatre to see Miss 0'JN~eil's 
Bianca. In like manner, it is after the Opera, 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 179 

that we go to the weekly parties of Lady Cas- 
tlereagh, the invitation specifying that time. 
Neither the Opera nor Covent Garden break 
up until twelve. Parties beginning at that 
hour, last until two and three. Most of those 
who have been at them, do not rise until 
towards noon next day. About two, commences 
the roll of carriages. At six in the evening, 
the morning ends. Then, scarcely sooner, the 
throngs of carriages, with gentlemen and 
ladies on horseback, disappear from the streets 
and parks, the hour of preparation for dinner 
being at hand. This is no overdrawn account, 
but the daily routine. It seems strange that 
health can be preserved, witli such habits ; yet 
the men look hale, the women blooming. 
Chiefly, they are of a class whose riches leave 
them at perfect leisure ; but mixed in with 
them, are others, men of affairs, whose duties 
are arduous, and whose fame must be kept up 
by exertion— cabinet ministers, parliamentary 
orators, even chancellors and vice-chancellors 
— the last being seen on the bench next morn- 
ing by nine. How these go through it all, 
seems more strange. This kind of life opens 
by degrees in February, gets to its crisis in 
May and June, and ends with July.* 

* See ante p. 141, note. This was more than fifty years 
ago. The hours are even later now daring* the London 
season. The morning now, scarcely ends much before seven 
in the evening, nor is the consequent disappearance of car- 

N 2 



180 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

On the drop-curtain at Covent Garden, are 
seen the flags of nations with whom England 
has been at war. They are in a shattered 
state, and represented as in subjection to Eng- 
land. That of the United States is among 
them. The symbols are not historically true. 
If they were, they are misplaced at such an 
exhibition. Foreign nations do not take 
offence at such things now, and show good 
sense. The age is not remote when their sen- 
sibility was quicker. In the time of Charles II. 
one of the reasons given by England for a rup- 
ture with Holland was, that a picture of the 
burning of the English ships at Chatham by 
the Dutch, was permitted to be hung up in 
the Town House at Amsterdam. England has 
fame enough, military and of all kinds, with- 
out straining in small ways after what does not 
belong to her. 

riages and horsemen from the streets and parks witnessed 
much sooner, certainly during the height of the season^eight 
o* clock being now the hour of invitation to dinner. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 181 



CHAPTER XIII. 

WAGER OF BATTLE. — INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLE- 
REAGH. — IMPRESSMENT. — COURSE OF GREAT BRITAIN 
AND THE UNITED STATES, AS BETWEEN SPAIN AND 
HER COLONIES. — AFFAIRS BETWEEN THE UNITED 
STATES AND SPAIN. — SAFETY OF DIPLOMATIC COR- 
RESPONDENCE. — THE DRAWI NG-ROOM. — BIRTH-DAY 
DINNER AT LORD CASTLEREAGH's. 

April 16, 1818. Went to the Court of 
King's Bench to hear the argument in the 
case of wager of battle. The parties were pre- 
sent. Through the courtesy of the Judges, I 
had a seat on the bench, next to Mr. Justice 
Bayley. On his left was Lord Chief Justice 
Ellenborough, occupying the seat of the Cokes, 
the Hales, the Mansfields. To the left of Lord 
Ellenborough were Mr. Justice Abbot and 
Mr. Justice Holroyd. If at Lord Hardwicke's 
I was awake to the associations which the great 
legal names of England call up, the feeling 
could not be less here. The room was ex- 
tremely full. The case was so remarkable as 
to have become a topic in general society. 

By the ancient law of England, when a 



182 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

person was murdered, the nearest relative of 
the deceased might brins* what was called an 
appeal of death, against the party accused of 
the murder. Under this proceeding, the 
accuser and accused fought. The weapons 
were clubs. The battle began at sun-rise, and 
was in the presence of the Judges, by whom 
also the dress of the combatants, and all other 
formalities were arranged. Part of the oath 
was, that neither combatant would resort to 
witchcraft. If the accused was slain, it was 
taken as a proof of his guilt ; if the accuser, 
of his innocence. If the former held out until 
star-light, that also attested his innocence. If 
either yielded whilst able to fight, it worked 
his condemnation and disgrace. Those who 
wish a full description of the proceedings, may 
seek it in Sulty, or continental writers of an 
earlier day, as Froissart, the custom having 
been imported into England by the Normans. 
My summary will give the general idea. 

It was a mode of trial for dark ages. Ash- 
ford the appellor, had accused Thornton the 
appellee, of the murder of one of his relations, 
and the latter desired to fight. In the 
highest tribunal of the most enlightened coun- 
try in Europe, I was listening to a discussion 
whether or not this mode of trial was in force 
in the nineteenth century ! It was difficult to 
persuade myself of the reality of the scene. 
Sir Humphrey Davy's remark was fresh in my 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 183 

mind. Mr. Chitty, a lawyer of eminence, ar- 
gued against the right of battle. Mr. Tindall 
had argued on the other side, on a former day. 
Fleta, Bracton, the Year-books, and other 
repositories of ancient law, were ransacked. 
Abundant ability was displayed on both sides. 
The greatest order prevailed ; even gravity. 
The Judges were in their robes. About seventy 
lawyers sat in front of them ; all in gowns and 
wigs. Finally, the Judges decided that trial 
by battle was in force. It had never, it seems, 
been repealed. 

To repeal laws, belongs to the legislature. 
Courts expound and apply them. Free go- 
vernment is complex, and works slowly ; ty- 
ranny is simple, and does it work at once. 
An absurd law may sleep in a free code, be- 
cause overlooked ; but, whilst there, it is the 
law. It is so, I suppose, that we must reason ; 
and generally the reasoning would be right. 
Yet it might have been thought, that, in a case 
like this, long disuse added to obvious absur- 
dity, would have worked the silent repeal of 
the law ; according to the doctrine of desuetude 
under the Roman code. 

In the end, no battle was fought. A tech- 
nical flaw interposed to prevent it, and Parlia- 
ment passed a repealing statute.* But the case 
marks an incident in English jurisprudence, 
having come near to converting the Court of 

* 59 Geo. III., c. 46. 



184 RESIDENCE AT THE l8i8. 

King's Bench into another Lyceum of Men- 
doza. 

April 18. Had an interview with Lord 
Castlereagh. My object was, to submit a pro- 
posal for abolishing impressment. Its nature 
will be seen in the paper subjoined. It is not 
my general design to insert copies of official 
papers, meaning to content myself, when they 
come into view, with making known their 
substance and results. But there may be 
exceptions, and the subject of impressment is 
one. I therefore give the paper in its words, 
as follow : — 

" Great Britain alleging a right to impress 
her seamen out of American vessels, upon the 
high seas, it follows, that whenever a mode can 
be devised for their previous exclusion from 
American vessels, the motive for the practice 
must be at an end. It is believed that this 
may be effected by each nation imposing re- 
straints upon the naturalization of the seamen 
of the other, and reciprocally excluding from 
their service all seamen not naturalized. If 
Great Britain be allowed to naturalize Ameri- 
can seamen, the United States must be allowed 
to naturalize British seamen. Each should be 
at liberty to afford the same facilities, or bound 
to interpose the same restraints. The greater 
the difficulty in acquiring the right of citizen- 
ship, the easier will it be to avoid imposition, 
and the more complete the desired exclusion. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 185 

The law of Congress of the third of March, one 
thousand eight hundred and thirteen, of all the 
provisions of which Great Britain may com- 
mand the benefit, will prove how sincerely the 
United States desire to settle this controversy 
on conditions satisfactory to Great Britain. 
By that law it is made indispensable for 
every British subject who may hereafter be- 
come a citizen, to reside five years in the 
United States without intermission, and so 
many guards are interposed to prevent frauds, 
that it seems scarcely possible they should be 
eluded. No British subject can be employed 
in a public or private ship of the United 
States, unless he produce to the commander 
in the one case, and to the collector of the 
port in the other, a certified copy of the act 
by which he became naturalized. A list of 
the crew, in the case of a private ship, must 
be taken, certified, and recorded by the col- 
lector ; and the consuls or commercial agents 
of Great Britain may object to the employ- 
ment of a seaman, and have the privilege of 
attending the investigation relative to his citi- 
zenship. The commander of a public ship 
receiving a person not duly qualified, is to 
forfeit a thousand dollars, and the commander 
or owner of a private ship, five hundred. It 
is also made a felony punishable by fine and 
imprisonment, for any person to forge or coun- 
terfeit, or to pass, or use, any forged or coun- 



136 RESIDENCE AT THE l8 I 8 

terfeited certificate of citizenship, or to sell 
or dispose of one. The United States will 
also be willing to provide, that every British 
subject desiring to become a citizen, shall be 
bound to appear in person before the proper 
tribunal, once a year, for the term of five 
years, until his right shall be completed, or 
adopt any other more practical and satisfactory 
evidence that his residence within their ter- 
ritory was bond fide and uninterrupted, it 
being their sincere desire to employ their own 
seamen onlv, and exclude British. By re- 
quiring five years' uninterrupted residence as 
the condition of citizenship, it is confidently 
believed that, from considerations readily sus;- 
gesting themselves, few, if any, British seamen 
would be found to take advantage of it. The 
nature of a seaman's life stands opposed to a 
different conclusion. If, in some instances, 
a residence should be commenced with a real 
intention, at the time, of submitting to this 
condition, the presumption is strong that, at 
the expiration of the term, such a change of 
habits and prospects would be superinduced, 
as to lead to the abandonment for ever of the 
sea as an occupation. If the proposal be ac- 
cepted, the United States would farther agree, 
that none of the British seamen who might be 
within their territory when the stipulation to 
crive it effect was entered into, without having 
already become citizens, should be admitted 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 187 

into either their public or private ships, until 
they had acquired the right, according to all 
the above regulations. In return for them, a 
clear and distinct provision to be made by 
Great Britain against impressment out of 
American vessels." 

I accompanied the delivery of the paper 
with renewed assurances to his lordship of the 
President's desire to see this cause of dissen- 
sion for ever removed, and the expression of 
a hope that Great Britain would see in the 
proposal no surrender of any right or interest, 
whilst its acceptance would guard the United 
States against wrongs that were palpable. 
He replied, that he would lay the proposal 
before the cabinet ; that it should have all the 
consideration due to its importance, and, I 
might be assured, in a conciliatory spirit. 

Leaving this subject in his hands, I reminded 
him of his intention to speak on Spanish affairs. 
He resumed the thread. Great Britain, he 
said, lamented the long continuance of the 
contest between Spain and her colonies. She 
had done all in her power to heal it. She 
would not relinquish her efforts, always desir- 
ing that Spain should pursue a liberal course, 
not a narrow or exclusive one ; he meant a 
course that would look largely to the commer- 
cial emancipation of the colonies. Great 
Briain, in particular, would not be instrumen- 
tal to a settlement of the contest upon terms 



188 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

which, drawing to herself peculiar advantages, 
would exclude the United States, or any other 
nation, from a just participation in the trade of 
South America. He hoped he might hear from 
me, that the United States would be governed 
by similar principles. 

I replied, that they were the principles which 
had invariably governed the United States. 
They desired, as ardently as Great Britain, the 
termination of the contest. They considered 
it in the light of a civil war, injurious to other 
nations, and, from geographical and other 
causes, especially injurious to the United 
States. The latter lent aid to neither party, 
in men, money, or ships. Spain made com- 
plaints; but they were unfounded. The United 
States maintained as strict a neutrality as was 
possible ; they considered each party as having 
all the rights of war as between themselves, 
and as against other powers. If any of their 
seafaring or mercantile inhabitants gave illegal 
aid to either party, they did it at their peril ; 
they were subject to belligerent capture by the 
party injured, and to prosecution under the 
laws of the United States ; who, the better to 
enforce neutral conduct upon their citizens, 
had special statutes annexing penalties to a 
departure from it. If the colonies finally pre- 
vailed, the United States not only did not 
seek, but would not, by treaties or other com- 
pacts, accept, any exclusive advantages; these, 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 189 

they knew, would create jealousy in other 
nations ; all that they desired was, fair com- 
petition. Such were the maxims of the United 
States; they had been made known to the 
world, and there was no reason to think they 
would be departed from. 

Lord Castlereagh asked if I knew whether 
my Government had given notice to Spain of its 
intention to take possession of Amelia Island. 
I said that I did not ; nor did I know that it 
would have been practicable. That island had 
been taken, not from Spain, but those who had 
previously wrested it from her. It adjoined 
territories of the Union ; an expedition had 
been set on foot against it, ostensibly by the 
public enemies of Spain, viz. some of her 
colonies warring against her ; but, in fact, by 
an irregular force from all countries, with such 
aid as could clandestinely be drawn from the 
United States in spite of prohibitory laws. 
This force took the island, and the Spanish 
authorities at the Havanna strove, but without 
success, to get it back. It became a rendez- 
vous for freebooters, smugglers, and renegado 
slaves 1 and an entrepot for fresh slaves from 
Africa. To put a stop to these and other enor- 
mities upon their border, the United States 
sent a small naval and military force to take 
possession of the island. They held it subject 
to a proper accountability, not doubting that 
the world would see in the measure nothing 



190 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

beyond a necessary precaution for the security 
of their commerce, and maintaining the au- 
thority of their laws. His lordship assented 
to the strength of these motives. 

He inquired, lastly, if I was acquainted with 
the intentions of my Government as to the 
reception of deputies from the colonies of 
Spain. 

I replied, that up to the time of my leaving 
Washington, no representatives of the colonies 
had been received in any official capacity. In- 
formal agents had arrived, and been informally 
listened to. Spain complained of this, and 
had even demanded that the United States 
should exclude from their ports the flags of 
Mexico, Carthagena, Buenos Ayres, and other 
provinces in resistance. The demand was 
thought unreasonable, especially whilst the 
United States had, as they conceived, long and 
just causes of complaint against Spain. Some, 
I recapitulated. 1. Questions of territory, 
growing out of the purchase of Louisiana from 
France, by the United States, in regard to which 
Spain still failed to do them justice. 2. Her 
sudden and violent interruption of the trade 
of the United States descending the Missis- 
sippi, by cutting off the right of deposit at 
New Orleans, before Louisiana belonged to 
the United States. 3. Her neglect to award 
compensation to the citizens of the United 
States for spoliations during the wars of the 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 191 

French Revolution, although a treaty had at- 
tested their title to it ; a treaty signed by her 
own minister at Madrid, but from which her 
Government withheld its ratification. These 
things I brought into view, that the forbearing 
policy of the United States towards Spain 
might be the better appreciated. His lord- 
ship expressed a hope that all our differences 
with that power might be satisfactorily accom- 
modated. I joined in the hope, saying that 
the desire of my Government not to disturb 
the general peace, was steady and sincere, and 
that it would leave nothing undone in the way 
of further negotiations, earnest as had been its 
past endeavours. 

April 21. Count called on me. He 

had requested an interview. After introduc- 
tory words, he asked if I was aware that the 
English Government watched foreign ministers. 
I asked, how? He said, by having persons 
in its service. Watched them in what ways ? 
In all ways ; was I sure of my servants ? did 
I lock up my manuscripts ? did I send my 
letters through the post-office ? I said, yes, 
as to the two last. As to my servants, I hired 
them, as others did, after learning their cha- 
racters. Was I sure they were not in secret 
pay? Not sure, I said ; did he know it ? 
Not positively; he could bring no proof ; it 
was a business that kept proof out of sio-ht. 
Had he heard anything ? I asked. No, but he 



192 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

had been long in London, and heard much 
on this subject; the Government with an out- 
side of candour, knew how to work under 
ground ; it thence became an adept in intrigue 
by lulling suspicion. But would he let me 
into the grounds of his suspicion in my case ? 
what whispers were there? History enlight- 
ened us much, he said ; — did not Walpole 
expend a million in secret-service money — had 
the English Government so changed since, as 
to be above all similar practices ? 

I replied that little would be gained by 
watching me. My Government was not one 
of mystery. Those in its service had to act 
and write under the responsibility of publi- 
cation at home. Their secrets would thus 
come back to England, more fully than ser- 
vants, or the post-office, could detail them. 
Nevertheless, he rejoined, the American and 
Russian legations were the two most watched; 
he believed so, and desired to render me a 
service by putting me on my guard. I thanked 
him, but said I was slow to believe. The 
English Government had its faults, but not of 
that kind. Why not ? Because it was against 
the genius of the Government and people ; 
they openly debated all that they did, and 
printed all that they said ; twenty folios would 
scarcely hold the matter annually sent forth 
by Parliament about their finances, trade, 
foreign relations, army, navy, everything ; 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 193 

into their public offices any one might go ; into 
their barracks, arsenals, or any other depot. 
Their press was everywhere, ferreting out every 
thing. But what did all that prove ? Nothing, 
I said, if he had special facts to make good 
his suspicion ; but, in the absence of them, 
it led me towards the conclusion that a nation 
so devoid of concealment in its own affairs, 
would be little inclined to bribe the servants 
of a foreign minister. What then had 
Walpole done with his million sterling ? That 
was more than I could say ; every Govern- 
ment, however open, had a secret fund; the 
Government of the United States had ; some of 
Walpole's went to pay newspapers, we were 
told, which would be foolish in these days, if 
not in his. 

I do not know that I changed the opinions 
of my visitant. He spoke on other subjects 
and left me, after having staid an hour. 

April 23. Went to the Drawing-room. We 
had the hoops and plumes, the same spectacle 
in the hall, up-stairs, and going to the palace. 
It was one to bear repeating. The company 
was even more numerous. 

The Queen was on her velvet elevation as 
before. I stood next to the Duke of Sussex. 
He named to me those who passed before her. 
The anxious countenances as the line slowly 
advanced ; the dresses ; the silence, increasing 
as the moment of presentation approached ; 

o 



194 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

the graceful timidity when at last the youthful 
fair curtsied before the Queen, gave to this 
real scene whatever imagination might picture. 
Close by me was the Duke de Bourbon ; pale, 
silent, accustomed to Chantilly, to Versailles 
— even he stood gazing in admiration. It was 
the fine sensibility of a Conde, touched by the 
female beauty of England. Pensive though 
placid, it seemed, even at such a time, as if 
the remembrance of his son, the Duke d'En- 
ghien, was stealing into his thoughts. Among 
the attractions of the day were Lady Eliza- 
beth Leveson Gower,* Miss Seymour, Lady 
Georgiana Fane, Lady Emily Bathurst. It 
was their first presentation at Court. The 
Queen cordially welcomed them, dispensing 
her accustomed kindness. 

This drawing-room was in honour of the 
birth-day of the Prince Regent. It comes in 
August, but is not then celebrated. The con- 
jecture ran that not fewer than two thousand 
persons were present. We got down stairs 
as we could, through tulle, gold net, hoops, 
and other glittering entanglements with which 
beauty obstructed the way. 

In the evening, Lord Castlereagh gave a 
grand dinner. He was himself unwell, and 

* Now the Dowager Marchioness of Westminster, of 
whose courtesy and kindness, as Conntess of Grosvenor to 
an official stranger many years afterwards, in unison with 
her early attractions here spoken of, time has not effaced 
the memory. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 195 

not at table. His brother, Lord Stewart, did 
the honours. At the foot, were the Earl of 
Clanwilliam and Mr. Planta ; the former, 
private secretary of Lord Castlereagh, the 
latter, under secretary of state. Lord Stewart 
gave the Prince Regent as a toast. The com- 
pany all rose. A few minutes afterwards, 
Prince Esterhazy gave Lord Castlereagh, 
which was received in like manner. In each 
case, the name alone was mentioned. Among 
the wines were dry champagne non mousseux, 
said to have been the favourite wine of Napo- 
leon ; and tokay, a present to Lord Castle- 
reagh from one of the crowned heads. 

***** said to me, that he believed the 
United States might obtain an island in the 
Mediterranean if desired. I said, that our 
interests were not European. Did we not 
keep a squadron there ? he asked. I replied 
that we did ; only, however, to guard our 
commerce from African pirates. How long- 
would we continue that policy ? Always, I 
remarked, rather than pay tribute ? Had we 
no treaty with Algiers by which our com- 
merce was to go free, without tribute ? Yes, 
but the Dey gave us to understand, what 
might have been inferred, that he would 
abide by it no longer than he could help it ; 
he had signed the treaty to save his fleet 
; from attack ; an enterprise resolved upon by 
' the United States prior to Lord Exmouth's 

o 2 



196 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

bombardment of his town ; from that time 
we had kept a naval force in the Mediter- 
ranean strong enough, as was believed, to check 
his. Then, would not this policy make it de- 
sirable to have a station for our ships, and 
for supplies ? I replied, that our squadron 
readily obtained supplies from friendly ports, 
paying in specie which it took out, or bills 
on London ; was not this safer than to run 
the risk of exciting jealousy, perhaps of ex- 
posing our purpose itself to frustration, by 
attempts to get footing in the Mediterranean ? 
He said that he was under the belief that 
we might obtain Lampedosa in a manner to 
avoid objection ; he meant the use and occu- 
pation of that island, Naples retaining the 
sovereignty. To such a transfer he did not 
see that Spain, England, France, or any power, 
could object. That might change, I said, 
some aspects of the question ; still there 
might be stumbling-blocks. Here our con- 
versation closed. 

After we came out from dinner, Baron de 
Gerning, attached to the suite of the Prince 
of Hesse Homberg, spoke to me of the great 
and good Washington. So he called him. 
The United States were far removed, he said, 
from his part of Germany; but virtue was 
of all countries, and all revered it in the 
illustrious founder of mine. I had conver- 
sation with Admiral Van der Capellen, who 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 197 

commanded so ably the Dutch ships that 
fought with Lord Exmouth at Algiers. He 
had been on board the United States squad- 
ron in the Mediterranean, under Commodore 
Chauncey. There was, he said, throughout 
every part of it, a discipline that excited his 
admiration. It is always grateful to hear the 
things of one's country so spoken of abroad.' 



* 



* It is remarkable how often foreigners are struck with 
tlie discipline prevailing on board United States' Ships of 
War. Perhaps they are not always prepared for it. There 
is reason for their admiration. Naval discipline in the 
United States is carried to a high pitch. It was one of the 
causes which helped to win for the infant Navy of The Re- 
public, in the early years of its history, its way to renown. 



198 RESipENCE AT THE l8l8. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



the daily press. — annual exhibition at the royal 
academy. — public societies. — dinner at the 
marquis of lansdowne's. — evening entertain- 
ment at carlton house. — dinner at dr. pinck- 
ard's. 



April 29, 1818. A country is not to be 
understood by a few months' residence in it. 
So many component parts go to make up the 
grand total, where civilization, and freedom, 
and power, are on a large scale, that the 
judgment gets perplexed. It pauses for re- 
examination. It must be slow in coming to 
conclusions, if it would be right. Often it 
must change them. A member of the diplo- 
matic corps, an enlightened observer, said to 
me a few days ago, that, at the end of his first 
year, he thought he knew England very well. 
When the third had gone by, he began to have 
doubts ; and that now, after a still longer time, 
his opinions were more unsettled than ever. 
Some he had changed entirely; others had 
undergone modification, and he knew not 
what fate was before the rest. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 199 

There was reason in his remark. If it be 
not contradictory, I would say, that he showed 
his judgment in appearing to have at present 
no judgment at all. The stranger sees in 
England, prosperity the most amazing, with 
what seems to strike at the roots of all pros- 
perity. He sees the most profuse expenditure, 
not by the nobles alone, but large classes be- 
sides ; and, throughout classes far larger, the 
most resolute industry supplying its demands 
and repairing its waste ; taxation strained to 
the utmost, with an ability unparalleled to meet 
it; pauperism that is startling, with public 
and private charity unfailing, to feed, clothe, 
and house it; the boldest freedom, with sub- 
mission to law ; ignorance and crime so widely 
diffused as to appal, with genius and learning 
and virtue to reassure ; intestine commotions 
predicted, and never happening ; constant 
complaints of poverty and suffering, with con- 
stant increase in aggregate wealth and power. 
These are some of the anomalies which he 
sees. How is he at once to pass upon them 
all ? he, a stranger, when the foremost of 
the natives after studying them a lifetime, do 
nothing but differ ! 

One of the things that strike me most, is 
their press. I live north of Portman Square, 
nearly three miles from the House of Commons. 
By nine in the morning, the newspapers are 
on my breakfast-table, containing the debate 



200 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

of the preceding night. This is the case, though 
it may have lasted until one, two, or three in 
the morning. There is no disappointment ; 
hardly a typographical error. The speeches 
on both sides are given with like care ; a mere 
rule of justice, to be sure, without which the 
paper w 7 ould have no credit, but fit to be men- 
tioned where party-feeling always runs as high 
as in England. 

This promptitude is the result of what alone 
could produce it ; an unlimited command of 
subdivided labour of the hand and mind. The 
proprietors of the great newspapers employ as 
many stenographers as they w r ant. One stays 
until his sheet is full. He proceeds with it to 
the printing-office, where he is soon followed 
by another with his ; and so on, until the last 
arrives. Thus the debate as it advances, is in 
progress of printing, and when finished, is all 
in type but the last part. Sometimes it will 
occupy twelve and fourteen broad closely- 
printed columns. The proprietors enlist the 
most able pens for editorial articles ; and as 
correspondents, from different parts of Europe. 
Their ability to do so may be judged of from 
the fact, that the leading papers pay to the 
Government an annual tax in stamps, of from 
twenty to fifty thousand pounds sterling. I 
have been told that some of them yield a profit 
of fifteen thousand sterling a-year, after pay- 
ing, this tax, and all expenses. The profits 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 201 

of " The Times," are said to have exceeded 
eighteen thousand a-year. The cost of a daily 
paper to a regular subscriber is about ten 
pounds sterling a-year. But subdivision comes 
in to make them cheap. They are circulated 
by agents at a penny an hour in London. 
When a few days old, they are sent to the 
provincial towns, and through the country at 
reduced prices. In this manner, the parlia- 
mentary debates and proceedings, impartially 
and fully reported, go through the nation. 
The newspaper sheet is suited to all this 
service, being substantial, and the type good. 
Nothing can exceed the despatch with which 
the numerous impressions are worked off, the 
mechanical operations having reached a per- 
fection calculated to astonish those who would 
examine them.* 

What is done in the courts of law, is dis- 
seminated in the same way. Every argument, 
trial, and decision, of whatever nature, or be- 
fore whatever court, goes immediately into the 

* What is here said of the promptitude and accuracy of 
the English Press will astonish less, now at the end of more 
than half a century, in connection with the wonderful results 
since achieved through the agency of steam and the tele- 
graph. In this respect it is believed that the American 
Press is not behind. But in the scrupulous observance by 
the former of the "mere rule of justice" mentioned by tho 
Author, perhaps the Press in other lands, though less liable 
to complaint than formerly, may yet have something to 
learn. 






202 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

newspapers. There is no delay. The follow- 
ing morning ushers it forth. I took the liberty 
of remarking to one of the Judges, upon the 
smallness of the rooms in which the Courts of 
King's Bench and Chancery sit, when the pro- 
ceedings were so interesting that great num- 
bers of the public would like to hear them. 
" We sit," said he, " every day in the news- 
papers" How much did that answer compre- 
hend ! What an increase of responsibility in 
the Judge ! I understood from a source not 
less high, that the newspapers are to be as 
much relied upon, as the books of law reports 
in which the cases are afterwards published; 
that, in fact, the newspaper report is apt to be 
the best, being generally the most full, as well 
as quite accurate. If not accurate, the news- 
paper giving it would soon fall before com- 
petitors. Hence, he who keeps his daily 
London paper, has, at the year's end, a volume 
of the annual law reportsof the Kingdom, be- 
sides all other matter. 

In the discussions of the journals, editorial 
or otherwise, there is a remarkable fearlessness. 
Things that in Junius's time would have put 
London in a flame, pass almost daily without 
notice. Neither the Sovereign nor his Family 
are spared. Parliament sets the example, and 
the newspapers follow. Of this, the debates 
on the royal marriages in the course of the 
present month, give illustrations. There are 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 203 

countries in which the press is more free, by 
law, than with the English ; for although they 
impose no previous restraints, their definition 
of libel is inherently vague. But perhaps 
nowhere has the press so much latitude. 

Every thing goes into the newspapers. In 
other countries, matter of a public nature may 
be seen in them ; here, in addition, you see 
perpetually even the concerns of individuals. 
Does a private gentleman come to town ? you 
hear it in the newspapers; does he build a 
house, or buy an estate ? they give the infor- 
mation ; does he entertain his friends? you 
have all their names next day in t}^pe ; is 
the drapery of a lady's drawing-room changed 
from red damask and gold to white satin and 
silver? the fact is publicly announced. So of 
a thousand other things. The first burst of it 
all upon Madame de Stael, led her to remark 
that the English had realized the fable of 
living with a window in their bosoms. It may 
be thought that this is confined to a class, who, 
surrounded by the allurements of wealth, seek 
emblazonment. If it were only so, the class 
is immense. But its influence affects other 
classes, giving each in their way the habit of 
allowing their personal inclinations and objects 
to be dealt with in print ; so that, altogether, 
these are thrown upon the public in England 
to an extent without parallel in any county, 
ancient or modern. When the drama at Athens 



204 RESIDENCE AT THE l8 1 8. 

took cognizance of private life, what was said 
became known first to a few listeners ; then to 
a small town ; but in three days, a London 
newspaper reaches every part of the king- 
dom, and in three months, every part of the 
globe. 

Some will suppose that the newspapers 
govern the country. Nothing would be more 
unfounded. There is a power not only in the 
Government, but in the country itself, far above 
them. It lies in the educated classes. True, 
the daily press is of the educated class. Its 
conductors hold the pens of scholars, often of 
statesmen. Hence you see no editorial per- 
sonalities ; which, moreover, the public would 
not bear. But what goes into the columns of 
newspapers, no matter from what sources, 
comes into contact with equals at least in mind 
among readers, and a thousand to one in 
number. The bulk of these are unmoved by 
what newspapers say, if opposite to their own 
opinions ; which, passing quickly from one to 
another in a society where population is dense, 
make head against the daily press, after its 
first efforts are spent upon classes less en- 
lightened. Half the people in England live 
in towns. This augments moral as physical 
power ; the last, by strengthening rural parts 
through demand for their products — the first 
by sharpening intellect through opportunities 
of collision. The daily press could master 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 205 

opposing mental forces, if scattered ; but not 
when they can combine. Then, the general 
literature of the country, reacts against news- 
papers. The permanent press, as distinct from 
the daily, teems with productions of a com- 
manding character. There is a great class of 
authors always existent in England, whose 
sway exceeds that of the newspapers, as the 
main body the pioneers. Periodical literature 
is also effective. It is a match at least for the 
newspapers, when its time arrives. It is more 
elementary ; less hasty. In a word, the daily 
press in England, with its floating capital in 
talents, zeal, and money, can do much at an 
onset. It is an organized corps, full of spirit 
and always ready ; but there is a higher power 
of mind and influence behind, that can rally 
and defeat it. From the latter source it may 
also be presumed, that a more deliberate judg- 
ment will in the end be formed on difficult 
questions, than from the first impulses and 
more premature discussions of the daily jour- 
nals. The latter move in their orbit by re- 
flecting also, in the end, the higher judgment 
by which they have been controlled. Such are 
some of the considerations that strike the 
stranger, reading their daily newspapers. 
They make a wonderful part of the social 
system in England. Far more might be said 
by those having inclination and opportunity to 
pursue the subject. 



206 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

May 3. Yesterday the Royal Academy 
gave their anniversary dinner at Somerset 
House. It was the fiftieth celebration. Frois- 
sart, when he found himself on the English 
coast, said, that he was among a people who 
" loved war better than peace, and where stran- 
gers were well received." If the latter were true 
in the time of Edward III, diplomatic stran- 
gers must say, that it is still. Invitations crowd 
upon them. If they did not decline more than 
they accept, there would be a poor account of 
their public business. The Royal Academy is 
an institution for the encouragement of the 
arts. Professorships of painting, sculpture, 
and anatomy, are annexed to it. The first Pre- 
sident was Sir Joshua Reynolds. In that ca- 
pacity he delivered his celebrated Discourses ; 
a work invaluable to the student in painting, 
and to be read with scarcely less advantage by 
the student of any science or profession. The 
author, says Burke in his beautiful obituary 
notice of him, was the first Englishman who 
added the praise of the elegant arts, to the 
other glories of his country. Yesterday I had 
the satisfaction to see, as his successor in the 
chair, my venerable countryman Mr. West. 
There were present, the royal academicians, a 
large collection of the nobility, many of the 
cabinet ministers, the Lord Chancellor, the 
Bishops of London and Salisbury, artists and 
others, high in the walks of genius and taste ; 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 207 

the foreign ambassadors, and an array of pri- 
vate gentlemen. Five of the rooms had their 
walls hung with paintings. There were more 
than four hundred. The rule being to receive 
none formerly exhibited, this number was there- 
fore to be taken as the year's production of 
pieces deemed by the Academy worthy of ex- 
hibition. Additional rooms were open, con- 
taining architectural designs and specimens in 
sculpture. 

The collection was rich in portraits. The 
English in this line do not perhaps fall behind 
any part of Europe. The productions of Law- 
rence, Beechey, Phillips, Davis, Newton, Jack- 
son, and many others, were seen all around. 
The piece that excited most attention from the 
interest of the subject in British eyes, was a 
full-length likeness of the Duke of Wellington 
on the horse he rode, and in the dress he wore, 
at the battle of Waterloo. It was by Sir 
Thomas Lawrence. There was a fine piece 
by Mr. West, founded on an interview between 
the great Mogul and Lord Clive. But one was 
seen of surpassing charm; the family of Walter 
Scott, by Wilkie. The great author is seated 
on a bank, his wife and daughters near him in 
cottage dresses. If we had Shakspeare in a 
family scene on the Avon, by a distinguished 
artist of Elizabeth's time, how would it be 
prized now ! In going through the rooms, it 
was not easy to avoid the reflection, that a day 



208 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

of fame in the arts awaits Britain. She is still 
in her youth in them. She has made hardly 
any efforts. Busy in climbing to the top of 
every thing else, she has not had time. The 
useful arts have occupied her. At the head of 
these in Europe, she is now at a point for em- 
barking; in the fine arts. And are not these 
useful too, when all ages pronounce that they 
enlarge the understanding, and improve the 
heart, as much as they refine the taste? To 
suppose the English climate not favourable to 
the fine arts, is strange. A climate where 
beautiful appearances of nature abound; that 
has been favourable to every kind of mental 
eminence, as mechanical skill ; where the infe- 
rior animals are seen in full size and strength, 
and the human form in ail its proportions and 
beauty, not a climate for painters and sculp- 
tors ! But it is said there must be a certain 
delicacy of thought and feeling to appreciate 
the world of nature, and deck it with the 
glories of art! Is not then the country of 
Shakspeare and Scott, of Milton, and Byron, 
and Moore, one for painters? How came the 
Dutch with a school of painting of their own, 
and an eminent one ? Is their sky more ge- 
nial? And will not the English, with political 
institutions and social manners of their own, 
try new fields of art ? An American adopts 
the anticipation the rather, because he clings 
to the belief that his own country, like repub- 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 209 

lies of old, is by and by to take her stand in 
th6 arts. Her students even now go to Italy 
for instruction. They hold, that in the great 
world of art, there is still immeasurable room 
for originality, and this under the strictest rules 
of art. 

We dined in the principal exhibition-room ; 
a large one. Two tables ran down the sides, 
connected by another at the top. In the 
middle of the latter, sat the President; on one 
side of him, the Duke of Sussex, on the other 
the Duke of Norfolk. The walls were so 
covered that every position commanded the 
paintings; and through vistas, the eye could 
steal into the other rooms. The whole was 
extremely attractive. I enter into no criticism. 
I give general impressions. It is not, as I 
know, the habit of the English, fastidious from 
their familiarity with the exquisite models of 
the Continent, to value themselves much on 
this home exhibition ; but for myself, bursting 
upon me as it did all at once, I thought it 
highly worthy to be extolled. I could have 
made bold to suggest a subject for a piece that 
I did not see in the collection ; viz " The 
President and Royal Academy at the anniver- 
sary dinner with their guests." 

The members of the diplomatic corps had 
seats near the head. After the Prince Recent 
and Royal family had been given as toasts, 
according to the custom at public festivals in 

p 



210 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

England, the President gave the " Foreign 
Ambassadors and Ministers/' who, as he was 
pleased to add, " had done the Academy the 
honour to be present." The toast was cheered 
with great courtesy. The corps looked to me 
as the organ of acknowledgment, English being 
my native tongue. Obeying their wishes, I 
returned thanks, adding that I was authorized 
to express the gratification we all derived in 
partaking British hospitality, surrounded by so 
many memorials of British art. Speeches were 
made by several of the nobility and gentlemen, 
but chiefly the Duke of Sussex and Lord 
Chancellor Eldon. They were in commenda- 
tion of the arts, and on the usefulness of that 
institution towards their advancement in Eng- 
land. Dinner was served at six. Until past 
seven, we had the sun through sky-lights. 
Afterwards, there fell gradually from above, 
light from numerous shaded lamps in hanging 
circles. They were burning, unobserved, when 
we sat down, and emerged from ambush only 
as night came on. 

Dependent lychni laquearibus aureis 

Incensi : et noctem flammis funalia vincunt. 

May 6. This is the season for public socie- 
ties to hold their meetings. It would be next 
to impossible to ascertain the number, charita- 
ble, religious, literary, dramatic, philanthropic, 
and of all descriptions. I made some attempts, 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 211 

but ceased from their hopelessness. A public- 
spirited individual, who is also a member of 
parliament, handed me a printed list contain- 
ing the day and place of meeting of between 
fifty and sixty of those only with which he was 
connected. The Egyptian Hall, City of Lon- 
don Tavern, Crown and Anchor, or some other 
large building is chosen, and a round of din- 
ners begins ; this being most commonly the 
form of celebration. Persons who were toge- 
ther at the principal schools, as Eton and Har- 
row ; and fellow graduates of the different col- 
leges in the Universities, have also their annual 
dinners, to keep alive early friendships. Many 
of the associates come up to town from their 
homes at a distance in the country, on purpose 
to attend them. 

The English are very remarkable for din- 
ners. I do not allude to the kind last named, 
or those in private life ; but to their habit of 
giving them in connexion with objects exclu- 
sively public. These, charitable ones among 
them, they constantly advance in this manner. 

w The veins unfilled, our blood is cold, and then 
We pout upon the morning, are unapt 
To give or to forgive ; but when we have stuff* d 
These pipes and these conveyances of our blood 
With wine and feeding, we have suppler souls 
Than in our priest-like fasts. " 

If the English meant to go by this doctrine 
of their great bard, they have done well, for 

their charities are stupendous. A newspaper 

p 2 



212 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I S. 

can hardly be opened that does not hold up a 
long list of subscriptions, amounting to sums 
that are sometimes enormous. I have now re- 
ference to some for building churches and es- 
tablishing schools, that within a few days have 
met my eye. So, in various parts of London, 
hospitals and other asylums for the distress- 
ed, arrest attention, bearing the inscription, 

"FOUNDED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION." 

They would be less remarkable, were they not 
beheld in connexion with poor taxes to an 
amount such as no nation ever before paid. 
The buildings devoted to these charitable pur- 
poses, are often more spacious than the royal 
palaces, and show an exterior more imposing. 
A grand annual dinner seems an indispen- 
sable adjunct to an English charity. Here is 
a t( Samaritan Society ;" or an " Infirmary for 
diseases of the Eye " a society for the " relief 
of decayed Artists ;" another for relieving "poor 
Authors;" a fifth for the "indigent Blind;" a 
sixth for " Foreigners in distress ;" a seventh 
for the " Deaf and Dumb ;" a society for " pro- 
moting Christian knowledge ;" a " Medical be- 
nevolent society," and I know not how many 
more, for I merely take examples, all of which 
have their annversarv dinners. Whatever the 
demands upon the charitable fund, there seems 
always enough for a dinner fund. Eating and 
drinking are not the sole objects of this festi- 
vity. Business is transacted, reports on the 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 213 

state of the charity made, and speeches de- 
livered, in the course of which the pocket is 
appealed to. Feeling rises as the inspiring 
glass passes, and the evening generally closes 
with an increase of the treasurer's store. No- 
blemen, including royal dukes, take part. They 
often preside at the dinners, and otherwise 
give their personal instrumentality, and freely 
their purses, towards the objects of the socie- 
ties. In France, before the" Revolution, the 
noble families were computed at thirty thou- 
sand. In England, they may perhaps be com- 
puted at six or eight hundred. This handful 
does more of the every-day business of the 
country, than the thirty thousand in France. 
In France, they did the work of chivalry ; they 
fought in the army and navy. In England, 
besides this, you trace them not merely as pa- 
trons of the arts, but in road companies, canal 
companies, benevolent and public institutions 
of all kinds, to say nothing of their share in 
politics ; in the latter, not simply as cabinet 
ministers, but speakers, committee-men, and 
hard-workers otherwise. 

I have to-day been at a meeting of the Bri- 
tish and Foreign Bible Society. Lord Teign- 
mouth was in the chair. Lord Harrowby 
President of the Council of cabinet ministers ■ 
Mr. Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer; 
the Bishops of Norwich and Gloucester, with 
several other bishops ; Lords Gambier and 



214 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

Calthorpe, Mr. Wilberforce and others dis- 
tinguished by character, title, or station, were 
present. A report was read, by which it ap- 
peared that the society had been the means 
of distributing two millions of Bibles ; had 
caused it to be translated into twenty-seven 
languages, and that since the last annual meet- 
ing, there had been collected in aid of the 
society's funds by private subscriptions in 
Britain, ninety-nine thousand pounds sterling. 
The report contained some complimentary 
allusions to Bible Societies in the United 
States. These passages were loudly cheered. 
Several speakers who addressed the meeting 
mentioned the United States in a similar spirit ; 
amongst them, the Chancellor of the Exche- 
quer, and Bishop of Gloucester. The former 
spoke of Great Britain and the United States, 
as the " two greatest maritime nations of the 
world ;" the Bishop of Gloucester called the 
latter " a great and growing sister country/' 
I was requested, after entering the hall, to 
move a vote of thanks to the distinguished 
President, Lord Teignmouth. A resolution to 
this effect was put into my hands, which I 
moved accordingly. In fulfilling the duty, 
whilst joining in the tribute that all had ren- 
dered to the objects of the society, I was 
happy in the opportunity of responding as 
national courtesy demanded, to the notices 
taken of my country. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 215 

May 10. Dined at the Marquis of Lans- 
downe's. His name had been familiar to me 
with every prepossession. In the House of 
Lords I had already listened to his disciplined 
eloquence. 

The company consisted of Lord and Lady 
Lansdowne, His Royal Highness the Duke of 
Gloucester, the Earl of Uchester, the Earl of 
Rosslyn, Lord Holland, Lord Erskine, the 
Bishop of Sodor and Man, the Russian and 
Austrian ambassadors, the Vice-Chancellor, 
and the ladies of several of the guests. 

In the dining-room were ancient statues. 
They were in ancient costumes, standing in 
niches. These time-honoured master-pieces 
of genius and art had been obtained from 
Rome. As we walked into dinner through a 
suite of apartments, the entire aspect was of 
classic beauty. 

Conversation was various. The Floridas 
being; mentioned in connection with the rumour 
of their intended transfer to the United States, 
Lord Erskine said, we ought to have them ; 
that is, he added, "if I belonged to the United 
States, I would maintain that doctrine." There 
was the same vein about him as at the Duke of 
Cumberland's ; a youthfulness of imagination 
that imparted its sprightliness to every thing. 

The Duke of Gloucester spoke of General 
Washington. It was with the praise always 
annexed to his great name. He commended 



216 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

his farewell address. Lord Erskine called him 
an august and immortal man. 

Architecture being a topic, Lord Holland 
said that it did not yet flourish in England. 
Italy, France, and other parts of the Continent, 
had better public edifices : specimens of do- 
mestic architecture were not wanting in Ens:- 
land; but these were too often spoiled by 
putting the door in the middle ; by this custom, 
good arrangement inside was sacrificed to ex- 
ternal appearance, and he was not sure that a 
gain always followed in this respect ; on the 
Continent, the entrance to the best private 
buildings, was generally at the side. The 
architecture of the ancients was spoken of, and 
other subjects touched as they arose. 

After we came from table, I had more con- 
versation with Lord Erskine. He spoke of 
the Emperor Alexander. He had seen La 
Harpe, his tutor, at Paris, who showed him 
letters from the Emperor, written soon after 
his accession to the throne. One of them ran 
thus : " My dear friend : I feel the load of my 
responsibility ; I feel how incompetent my 
youth and inexperience are, to wield the 
sceptre of such an empire ; all that I can hope 
is, that I may be guided by the precepts you 
have taught me ; I pray you, if ever you find 
me departing from them, to remind me of them ; 
do not wait for me to send for you ; this I pro- 
bably shall not do when I act in opposition to 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 217 

them; but write to me, come to me, to recall 
me from my errors." All will agree, that such 
a letter was creditable to both pupil and pre- 
ceptor. His lordship said that La Harpe told 
him the Emperor was fond of reading works on 
the institutions of the United States. Before 
separating, he said he intended to call on me 
soon, not by leaving a card, the common way, 
he believed, of visiting foreign ministers, but by 
coming in. I assured him he could in no way 
make me more happy. 

May 19. Last evening we were at Carlton 
House. This seems the season for large routs 
by night, as the meeting of public societies by 
day. We have been to a number. I could 
give little description of them, unless to speak 
of their crowds, and the difficulty of getting to 
them and from them through phalanxes of 
carriages. 

The entertainment last evening was different. 
The company found space in the ample rooms, 
although there was an array of all the principal 
persons of the court, a very full number of 
peers and peeresses, the foreign ambassadors 
and ministers, and many others. I caught 
conversation as I could. Lord Sidmouth, 
Home Secretary, assured me of the earnest 
desire of His Majesty's Government to 
strengthen the friendly relations between our 
two countries. He spoke of the United States 
with great cordiality. He inquired for Mr. 



218 RESIDENCE AT THE 1 S I 8. 

King, saying that he had earned the lasting 
respect and good will of many persons in ling- 
land. Nor did the Prince Regent conclude 
his salutations to me, without renewing his 
inquiries for him. 

The scene was magnificent. The golden 
plate in display, is said to be unrivalled in 
Europe. It includes some that belonged to 
Charles the First. One of the rooms led, 
through doors of reflecting glass, to a rich 
gothic conservatory, partly illuminated with, 
coloured lamps. It was filled with flowers, 
than which there can be nothing more beautiful 
even in palaces. The effect was heightened 
by music from the Prince's band, which was 
stationed here, and played at intervals through- 
out the evening. It was not at an early hour 
we got away from such a scene. 

May 21. Dr. Pinckard, an eminent physi- 
cian of Bloomsbury Square, entertained us at 
dinner. He w r as formerly attached to the Bri- 
tish army, and on service in the West Indies. 
Thence he visited Philadelphia, where I made 
his acquaintance ; listening, at my father's 
table, to his various and intelligent conver- 
sation. 

We had a pleasant party. Of the guests, 
w r ere Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Green. 
Advanced in life, he was still a fine-looking 
man, with little of age in his manner. He had 
been distinguished by his services in the wars 



I 8 I 8. COURT OF LONDON. 219 

of the French Revolution. I found that his 
military career took an earlier date. He was 
a captain in Burgoyne's army, had been cap- 
tured at Saratoga in 1778, with that army, and 
marched as a prisoner from Albany to Boston. 
He related anecdotes of the campaign, and of 
his march ; it need scarcely be added, with 
urbanity and good humour. 

I mention the incident, because although 
the first, it was not the only instance in which 
I met in England those who had shared in the 
war of the American Revolution, and who 
spoke of its events in the same spirit. Be- 
longing to an age gone by, it seems no longer 
to be recalled in any other spirit than that of 
history. 



220 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 



1 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE UNITED STATES AND IONIAN ISLANDS. — AFFAIRS 
BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN. — MONU- 
MENT TO BURNS. BRITISH INSTITUTION. PALL-MALL. 

— DINNER AT MR. CANNING'S. — LORD ERSKINE. 

May 24, 1818. * * * * from the Ionian 
Islands called upon me. He had a communi- 
cation to make of interest, as he said, to his 
country, and he hoped I would think it so to 
mine. By a treaty concluded at Paris in 1815, 
the seven Ionian Islands had been formed into 
an independent state, denominated " The 
United States of the Ionian Islands," and 
placed under the protection of Great Britain. 
It was a protection the Islands did not like. 
Did the constitution of my country prohibit 
our acquiring foreign possessions? I said, no. 
He asked if it would accord with our policy, to 
have a connection with the seven Islands ; such 
a measure, he believed would be practicable, 
if the United States would consent. In short, 
he thought that the Islands, particularly Corfu, 
Zante, and Cephalonia, would be willing to 
place themselves under the protection of the 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 221 

United States, if the terms could be ar- 
ranged. 

I asked what England would say, and Rus- 
sia, and Europe generally? He replied, that 
he did not see what ground of objection there 
could be, if the Islands desired it ; remarking 
that he had perceived by the newspapers that 
my Government hadprotested against Great Bri- 
tain exercising sovereignty over them any longer. 

I was little prepared for his communication. 
I cannot say that I was an entire stranger to 
the publication he alluded to, for I had seen it. 
I had considered it in the light of a burlesque 
upon a previous newspaper paragraph, stating 
that Great Britain had protested against the 
United States acquiring the Floridas. But 
what is penned in mirth, it seems, may pass for 
earnest. I assured * * * * that there was no 
foundation for the account. He appeared to 
have believed it fully, until this interview. He 
did not urge the less that my Government 
should take into consideration the expediency 
of assuming the protectorship of the Islands. 
He enlarged on the prospects of commercial 
advantage it would open to us by an inter- 
course with the Morea, Albania, Constantino- 
ple, and the Ottoman dominions generally. I 
replied, that it was no part of the system of the 
United States to get into European politics, 
and least of all, to interfere in the relationship 
between Great Britain and these Islands. This 



2 22 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

was the amount of the interview. He was at- 
tended by two other persons from the Islands. 

jAs the English newspapers have lately- 
abounded in vituperative articles againt the 
United States in connexion with their affairs 
with Spain, without understanding them, or 
exhibiting only the Spanish side, I will here 
insert a letter I addressed to the President. It 
bears upon the foregoing interview. My re- 
gular weekly despatches, and oftener when 
necessary, were addressed to Mr. Secretary 
Adams. These went on the public files of the 
Department of State. I wrote to him, also on 
public matters, in a way not designed for those 
files, it being my good fortune to enjoy his con- 
fidence ; and, not unfrequently, I wrote to the 
President in the same manner. The communi- 
cation in question was dated the 20th of this 
month. Its material parts areas follow: 

" Since my last, no steps that were practi- 
cable have been omitted to ascertain from what 
source the letter, a copy of which I transmitted, 
proceeded ; or how far the information which it 
disclosed, is to be relied upon. The writer 
states himself to be in connexion with a person 
high in station, but declines an interview. Since 
the tenth instant, he has addressed several letters 
to the Legation. I would send copies, but that 
all are to the same effect, and the one already 
sent, will be to you a sufficient sample of his 
style and manner. Keeping to points that are 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 223 

essential, I will condense the information they 
purport to convey, thus saving your valuable 
time. 

" He continues, to assert, that Great Britain 
has secretly determined to support Spain in a 
contest with the United States ; that the cabi- 
net of the former has resolved that our territory 
shall not be extended, and more than all that the 
Floridas shall not be added to it, as bringing us 
too near to Cuba. That Spain is to begin the 
contest, not by a formal declaration, but by 
letting loose her privateers ; that she will take 
the step as soon as the armament now preparing 
at Cadiz to go against South America, shall 
have sailed, and that this is the opinion of the 
Spanish Ambassador at this court, founded on 
communications from Madrid. That the mani- 
festo of Spain will soon appear, calling upon all 
other powers who have colonies to assist her 
in the struggle ; that an officer high in the 
Spanish embassy, was sent off express to Paris 
on these objects last week, and that a Spanish 
secretary sailed from the Thames with definitive 
instructions to the Spanish minister at Wash- 
ington, Mr. Onis, under the crisis that is ap- 
proaching. That Spain is to have no quarrel 
with Portugal, such a measure not falling in 
with the views of England, and that Olivenza 
will be given up. That five of the daily news- 
papers of London have their columns open to 
the Spanish embassy, and that the Spanish 



224 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

Government is actively employed in buying up 
vessels to be fitted out and manned in England, 
to cruise under the Spanish flag against our 
trade. That Spain has her agents at work in 
several of the ports of equipment in this king- 
dom ; also in France, Holland, and the Nether- 
lands, expecting, under cover of her own flag, 
to enlist the privateering means of half Europe 
against the commerce of the United States 
whilst everywhere exposed, and that the vessels 
will be fitted out under pretence of acting 
against South America. That a person lately 
arrived here from Madrid, with full powers 
from the King to the Spanish Ambassador to 
act at his discretion in procuring the instru- 
ments and means of striking at our commerce ; 
that the ambassador, who is represented as 
having large private resources, which he spends 
liberally in addition to his public allowances, 
has the unbounded confidence of his King, who 
will confirm all that he does. Finally, that 
the ambassador has caused a pamphlet to be 
written against the United States, dilating 
upon their alleged injustice and rapacity to- 
wards Spain, which, by raising odium against 
them, is intended to aid the hostile views of 
Spain ; and that many thousand copies of it 
are to be circulated in French, Spanish, and 
English, in quarters where it will be likely to 
be most effective. 

" The question is, how far do the above 



I 8 1 8 COURT OF LONDON. 225 

allegations, or any of them, appear to be sus- 
tained by facts. The most material are, the 
asserted purchase and equipment of vessels in 
the ports of Great Britain. This, if true, can- 
not easily be hidden. As yet I have obtained 
no information that would authorize me in say- 
ing that it has been done. I have made, and 
will continue to make, every inquiry. Persons 
connected with the American trade are the 
proper sources to resort to. Their sagacity 
will be sure to make the first discoveries; nor 
will our vigilant consul, Colonel Aspinwall, be 
asleep. 

" As to the newspapers being open to the 
Spanish embassy, this is not improbable. Most 
\ of the violent articles against the United States 
} touching their affairs with Spain, that have 
i lately appeared in the London papers, have 
proceeded, I have little doubt, from Spaniards, 
I or pens they enlist. They bear marks of this 
origin. There was, I believe, an officer of the 
Spanish embassy despatched to Paris ten days 
or a fortnight ago. I have been able to pro- 
cure no evidence of the nature of his errand, 
beyond the assertions of the letter- writer. 
Upon these alone, reiterated indeed with great 
\ confidence, rests for the present, the credit 
due to all his other communications. The 
pamphlet of which he speaks, has been written; 
at least in part. He sent to the Legation some 
of the printed sheets, which I enclose. It is 

Q 



226 RESIDENCE AT THE 1-8 I 8. 

said that the writer— an Englishman — has re- 
ceived, or is to receive, sixty guineas from the 
Spanish embassy. I should pronounce it more 
than the pamphlet is worth. The Spanish 
ambassador is the Duke of San Carlos. He 
formerly represented Spain at the court of 
Vienna, where his household was on a munifi- 
cent scale; as here. We exchange visits, and 
reciprocate other civilities. 

" In addition to the communications of the 
letter-writer, I have been called upon by a 
member of the Congress of Venezuela, now in 
London. He regards a rupture between the 
United States and Spain as so near, that, on 
the ground of his acquaintance with the con- 
dition and resources of Spanish America, he 
came to tender me all his information in aid of 
our cause. I said the United States meditated 
no hostile steps. He replied, that Spain did. 
I suggested the objections, unless she expected 1 
co-operation from England ; and that I could 
not think the latter meant to go to war with us 
without cause. He met the objections by saying 
that England had promised no co-operation, 
but that the condition of Spain was desperate : 
she must lose her colonies if things continued 
on the present footing; the only hope of saving 
them, rested upon her being able to bring Eng- 
land by some means or other to her assistance. 
That she counted upon the jealousy between 
England and the United States on the ocean, 



I8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 227 

and by going to war herself with the latter, the 
course of events would soon draw the former 
into it, whatever she might say at first. At 
any rate, that this was a game of chances Spain 
had resolved to play, as, at the worst, it could 
only accelerate a catastrophe otherwise inevit- 
able, viz. the total loss of her dominion in 
America. This Venezuelan, although liable 
to be warped by his political wishes, is intelli- 
gent and eool-minded, and full of activity in 
seeking information. I therefore report what 
he said, although he referred to no specific 
facts. However plausible his way of reasoning, 
it is not sufficient with me to overcome weightier 
reasons opposed to it. Hence, that either Spain 
or England design to strike a hostile blow at 
us, I am not able at present to believe. Still 
I have not felt at liberty to be altogether pas- 
sive under my own incredulity. I am taking 
steps of precaution from which, be the issue 
what it may, no evil can arise. I have written 
to our ministers at Paris and Madrid, and to 
the commander of our squadron in the Medi- 
terranean. I have not expressed myself in a 
way to excite alarm, but watchfulness. I shall 
continue attentive to what passes, and should 
any new or more distinctive grounds be laid 
before me, adopt such other measures as pru- 
dence may dictate, hoping those already taken 
may have your approbation. It is proper I 

Q 2 



228 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

should add, that there has been no open de- 
parture whatever in the English cabinet or 
court from a frank or conciliatory course 
towards us. If any thing is going on, it is 
profoundly in the dark." 

The matter of the above letter points to 
occurrences which belong to the history of a 
public mission. Light is shed by them on in- 
cidents otherwise not so well understood. It 
was easy to believe that Spain desired a rup- 
ture between the United States and England, 
and that those in her service would labour in 
all ways to that end. But it was not to be 
believed, that she would go to war with the 
United States, on a mere speculation that the 
force of circumstances might draw England 
into it. The navy of the United States was 
efficient, and the certainty of its immediate 
co-operation with the Spanish colonies, for 
which their proximity afforded advantages, 
could not have failed to set before Spain the 
risks, on that ground alone, of seeking such a 
war. That England would rather the Floridas 
belonged to Spain, than the United States, was 
no more than natural to suppose. She re- 
membered that the treaty of Utrecht had pro- 
hibited Spain from transferring any of her 
colonial possessions to other powers. , But the 
Congress of Vienna had been silent on such a 
policy. England, a party to that congress, 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 229 

knew as well as other powers, that the day for 
its revival was at an end.* 

May 27. A few persons desiring to see a 
monument erected to Burns, put an off-hand 
notice in the Morning Chronicle, that the ad- 
mirers of his genius would dine to-day at the 
City of London Tavern. About two hundred 
assembled. The stewards invited me as a 
guest. The Duke of York was in the chair. 

The leading person was Mr. Boswell, son of 
the biographer of Johnson, and a member of 
parliament. He made a speech on the genius 
of Burns, and urged the propriety of erecting 
a monument on the site of the cottage where 
he was born. A son of the poet was present. 
On " Success to the family of Burns" being 
given as a toast, he thanked the company in 
a modest, feeling manner. The punch-bowl 
that belonged to Burns, and of which it is 
known he was too fond, was handed round the 
table, as a relic. A full band was in the or- 
chestra. We had a great deal of fine old 
Scotch music, with several of Burns's songs, 
and a good one written for the occasion by 
Mr. Boswell. The Duke of York was toasted, 

* It is satisfactory to reflect, that History has justified 
the Author's incredulity expressed in the above letter to the 
President, notwithstanding the somewhat grave and exagge- 
rated communications which reached him. History also 
records the memorable interviews between Mr. Canning and 
the Author, at a subsequent period of his Mission, in refer- 
ence to Spain and her Colonies. 



230 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

with a complimentary allusion to the share 
which, as commander-in-chief of the British 
army, he had taken in improving its condition. 
He returned thanks, adding that it was his 
highest pride to merit the approbation of his 
sovereign, and good-will of his fellow-subjects. 
" The admirers of Burns in the United States" 
came next: on which I made my acknow- 
ledgments, saying that my countrymen were 
alive to the charms of his poetry, as he wrote 
for the heart, which was of all nations. The 
Duke asked me if we made speeches at our 
public dinners, as they were forced to do in 
England. I said, not often hitherto ; but it was 
a custom which tended, I thought, to improve 
the character of public dinners, by introducing 
excitements beyond those merely jovial. He 
assented. We had other speeches — short 
ones. They would otherwise, all must agree, 
lose a chief merit for such occasions. 

Several hundred pounds were collected to- 
wards the monument. Three or four of my 
countrymen, accidentally in London, were pre- 
sent, and marked their admiration of the 
genius of the bard by being contributors. It 
may serve as an instance to show how the 
pocket is opened at public dinners in London. 

May 28. Visited the British Gallery in Pall 
Mall. The collection of paintings is very 
choice. It is made up exclusively of pieces 
from the Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish, and 



i 



8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 231 



Flemish masters. They belong to persons in 
England, who annually send specimens from 
their private collections to this exhibition for 
the gratification of the public, and to aid in 
fostering taste in this branch of the arts. You 
wander through rooms where hang produc- 
tions on which the public taste of different 
ages and nations had put the seal of appro- 
bation. 

It has been said that painters can flourish 
only in Roman Catholic countries. That the 
Scriptures have afforded the grandest subjects 
for the pencil, is true. In Catholic countries, 
the Church influences largely secular feeling. 
This is a sufficient reason why their painters 
so frequently take subjects from Scripture. 
But they have not confined themselves to 
these ; and are not the same subjects open to 
the pencil in Protestant countries ? The very 
variety of religions, as of character, in England, 
will tend to advance her in the arts when she 
takes her stand in them. She has an establish- 

L ed church with every species of dissent ; a 
powerful aristocracy with popular forms and 
practices, that in some respects Athens never 
equalled ; a King venerated and lampooned ; 
more than all, an amount of riches, not heredi- 
tary, merely, but self-acquired, in the hands 

k of individuals in every part of the kingdom, 
making a greater number independent in their 
circumstances, and giving them consequently 



232 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818 

more command over time and inclination, than 
has probably* ever before been known among 
the same number of people, existing as one 
nation. All these are materials for the arts. 
A school founded in such a soil, could neither 
be formal, nor limited. Mannerism belongs to 
feelings and pursuits more circumscribed. It 
would be a soil too for patronage ; not by a 
few nobles, or the hand of an amateur Prince ; 
but diffused, as through rich republics, all 
over the land. 

The annual exhibition of the works of the 
masters is not the only way in which this In- 
stitution aims at advancing the Fine Arts. Its 
governors and patrons purchase the produc- 
tions of British artists where merit *is high. 
It was so that Mr. West's picture of " Christ 
healing the Sick," was purchased for three 
thousand guineas. This is the picture, the fel- 
low to which was presented to the Hospital 
at Philadelphia. There needs no other proof 
of the interest the venerable artist felt in the 
land of his birth. It was a munificent dona- 
tion. He contemplated with delight the growth 
of the arts in the United States. He had 
studied painting as carefully, and understood 
its 'rules with as just a discrimination as any 
artist living. He had opportunities of knowing 
that the study was pursued with both zeal and 
judgment in the country always dear to him. 
He had seen in her infancy every presage of 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 233 

future eminence ; and to aid in stimulating 
tendencies so noble, was one of the motives to 
his generous gift. 

June 5. We were at another brilliant enter- 
tainment at Carlton House on Tuesday even- 
ing. To-day I attended the levee. Lord 
Castlereagh said to me that his constant en- 
gagements in parliament had prevented his 
asking an interview with me during the past 
fortnight, as he had wished. Its dissolution 
was at hand, immediately after which he would 
fix a time for our meeting. 

June 6. Dined at Mr. Canning's. His resi- 
dence is at Gloucester-lodge, two miles from 
town. We had exchanged visits by cards. 
The latter periods of my mission, during which 
he was Secretary for foreign affairs, brought me 
into much intercourse with him, personal and 
official ; but this was the first time I had met 
him except at levees and drawing-rooms. To 
the space he filled in public estimation, I could 
be no stranger. He received his guests cor- 
dially. The grounds about his house were not 
extensive, but shut in by trees. All was seclu- 
sion the moment the gates closed ; a common 
beauty in villas near London. The drawing- 
rooms opened on a portico, from which you 
walked out upon one of those smoothly- 
shaven lawns, which Johnson, speaking ef 
Pope's poetry, likens to velvet. We had the 
soft twilight, which at this season lasts so long 



234 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8- 

in England, and sets off verdure to such ad- 
vantage. " You see," said Mr. Canning, " how 
we prize your plants," pointing to some Rho- 
dodendrons ; " you must be fond of horticul- 
ture in the United States, from the specimens 
we have of your flowers. " I said it was a 
growing taste with us, but that we had much 
to do before we should equal England. And 
we in England, he said, are behind Holland, 
and I believe France, in flowers. Dinner was 
soon announced. Mr. and Mrs. Canning, the 
Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford, Lady 
Elizabeth Leveson Gower, the Spanish Ambas- 
sador and his Duchess, the Neapolitan minis- 
ter, and his Countess, my wife, Mr. Chinnery, 
and some members of the family, made the party. 
Mr. Canning sat at the head. His quick eye 
was all round the table ; his aim to draw out 
others. Occasionally, he had touches of plea- 
santly. He asked for Mr. Pinkney of Mary- 
land. " I once," said he, " had a skirmish with 
him about language, but he worsted me ; I 
said there was no such word as influential, 
except in America, but he convinced me that 
it was originally carried over from England." 
Lord Stafford remarked, that it was so good a 
one, they ought to bring it back. " Yes," said 
Mr. Canning, " it is a very good word, and I 
know no reason why it should have remained 
in America, but that we lost the thing." 

A library was attached to the suite of rooms. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 235 



When we came from dinner, some of the com- 
pany found pastime in turning over the leaves 
of caricatures, bound in large volumes. They 

^ went back to the French revolutionary period. 
Kings, princes, cabinet ministers, members of 
parliament, everybody, figured in them. It was 

\ a kind of history of England in caricature for 
five-and-twenty years. Need I add, that our 

I accomplished host was on many a page. He 
stood by. Now and then he threw in a word 
giving new point to the scenes. It is among 
the contradictions of the English, that, shy and 
sensitive as the higher classes in many respects 
are, perhaps beyond any other people, they are 
utterly indifferent to these kind of attacks. 
Their public men also, exclude politics from 
private life. You see, every where, persons of 
opposite parties mingling in social intercourse. 
He asked, who were our favourite authors in 
the United States. The English, I said. But 
among the English? Johnson, Dryden, Addi- 
son, or Swift ? Opinions varied, I said ; John- 

, son had his admirers; but I thought that after 
five-and-tw T enty, our readers for the most part 
came round to the others. They were his 
favourites, he said. Next he asked, is not 
Junius liked? Generally, I said. I had 

f heard of a young gentleman in Philadelphia, 
who transcribed all his letters in the hope of 
catching his style. He made no comment; but 
I thought I saw that he would not recommend 



236 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

a young friend to that trouble. From the 
Spanish ambassador I had every civility, not- 
withstanding the pamphlet. 

So, briefly, was my first dinner at Mr. Can- 
ning's. Many and agreeable ones followed. 
Sir James Macintosh said of him in debate, 
that he had incorporated in his mind all the 
elegance and wisdom of ancient literature. 
It was a high tribute from a political opponent 
and competent judge. Both were first-rate 
men, as well by native endowments, as the 
most careful cultivation ; both disciplined by 
an advantageous intermixture in great poli- 
tical and social scenes ; Macintosh, universal 
and profound ; Canning, making every thing 
bend to parliamentary supremacy ; the one, 
delivering speeches in the House of Commons 
for the philosopher and statesman to reflect 
upon ; the other winning, in that arena, daily 
victories. Both had equal power to charm in 
society ; the one various and instructive ; the 
other intuitive and brilliant ; Macintosh, by 
his elementary turn, removed from all col- 
lisions ; Canning, sarcastic as well as logical 
in debate, and sometimes allowing his official 
pen to trespass in the former field ; but in 
private circles, bland, courteous, and yielding. 
Let me add that both were self-made men ; 
enjoying, by this title, the highest political 
consideration and social esteem, in the most 
powerful hereditary and other circles of the 
British empire. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 237 

June 7. Lord Erskine called upon me ac- 
cording to promise. First he spoke of the bill 
he lately brought into the House of Lords, to . 
prevent arrest in cases of libel until after in- 
dictment, regretting its loss. 

He touched on other topics. I pass by all, 
to come to what he said of Burke. My boys 
being in the room, he asked if I had found a 
good school for them. I said they were at 
present with Mr. Foothead, in my neighbour- 
hood. " You are lucky," he said, " if Burke's 
recommendation goes for anything, for he 
thought well of him as a teacher of the 
classics.* What a prodigy Burke was I" he 

* Lord Erskine soon afterwards sent two of his own sons 
to the same school, The Hon. Thomas Erskine, and The 
Hon. Alfred Erskine, both of whom were schoolmates of the 
boys above mentioned. It is common to speak of the de- 
generacy of present, as compared with past, times ; but the 
question may at least be asked, are the English schools as 
good now, as they were then ? are they as thorough ? 

At a capital school some years afterwards at Hampstead, 
conducted by the Messrs. Johnson, one of them a University 
man (whether Oxford or Cambridge is not now remembered), 
boys of fourteen had read, or were reading, Ca3sar, Cicero 
de Officiis, Sallust, Yirgil, Horace, Grseca Majora, and 
Homer (considerable portions of each author), and were 
made to understand — and explain — what they read, to which 
prosody and Latin verse came in as auxiliaries. They were 
also made to read out loud, in a class, every day, from the 
standard British poets, with special attention to tone and 
emphasis, and distinctness of enunciation ; and there were 
also boys of that age who spoke French fluently. All this is 
distinctly remembered. Can as much be said now ? It 



238 RESIDENCE AT THE l8i8. 

exclaimed. " He came to see me not long 
before he died. I then lived on Hampsted 
hill. * Come, Erskine/ said he, holding out 
his hand, Met us forget all; I shall soon quit 
this stage, and wish to die in peace with every 
body, especially you.' I reciprocated the sen- 
timent, and we took a turn round the grounds. 
Suddenly, he stopped. An extensive prospect 
broke upon him. He stood, rapt in thought. 
Gazing on the sky, as the sun was setting, 
' Ah ! Erskine,' he said pointing towards it, 
€ you cannot spoil that because you cannot 
reach it ; it would otherwise go ; yes, the 
firmament itself — you and your reformers 
would tear it all down.' I was pleased with 
his friendly familiarity, and we went into the 
house, where kind feelings between us were 
further improved. A short time afterwards he 
wrote that attack upon the Duke of Devonshire, 
Fox, and myself, which flew all over England, 
and perhaps the United States." All this Lord 
Erskine related in the best manner. In my 
form of repeating it, I cannot do him justice. 

Desiring to hear something of Burke's de- 
livery from so high a source, I asked him about 
it. "It was execrable," said he. " I was in 
the House of Commons when he made his 
great speech on American conciliation, the 

would be to come short of the " truth of history M not to 
add, that the cane was sometimes held up in terrorem, and 
sometimes came down ! 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 239 

greatest he ever made. He drove everybody 
away. I wanted to go out with the rest, but 
was near him and afraid to get up ; so I 
squeezed myself down, and crawled under the 
benches like a dog, until I got to the door 
without his seeing me, rejoicing in my escape. 
Next day I went to the Isle of Wight. When 
the speech followed me there, I read it over 
and over again ; I could hardly think of any- 
thing else ; I carried it about me, thumbed it, 
until it got like wadding for my gun." Here 
he broke out with a quotation from the pasages 
beginning, " But what, says the financier, is 
peace without money ?" which he gave with a 
fervour, showing how he felt it. He said that 
he was in the House when he threw a dagger 
on the floor, in his speech on the French Revo- 
lution, and it " had like to have hit my foot/' 
"It was a sad failure," he added, " but Burke 
could bear it."* 

He sat upwards of an hour, leaving me to 
regret his departure. 

* While passing the winter in Paris in 1867-68, an 
English Officer, who was also passing the winter there, pro- 
cured from the writer the volume from which this is a re- 
print, of which he said many courteous things. On returning 
it, the following pencil note to the above passage was found 
on the margin, which it is believed there can be no harm in 
here reproducing : — 

l( To hear Burke's famous Speech against Hastings, re- 
cited by Erskine, who knew it by heart, was a splendid 
enjoyment. 5 ' 



240 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. — REVENUE AND RE- 
SOURCES OF ENGLAND. — INTERVIEW WITH LORD CAS- 

TLEREAGH. IMPRESSMENT. — THE SLAVE-TRADE. 

COMMERCIAL CONVENTION OF 1815. — DINNER AT 
THE MARQUIS OF STAFFORD'S. — FURTHER INTERVIEW 
WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH ON IMPRESSMENT AND THE 
SLAVE-TRADE. — THE HUSTINGS AT COVENT-GARDEN. 
■ — DINNER AT THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHE- 
QUER'S. 

June 10. Parliament was dissolved by the 
Prince Regent in person. This is regarded as 
one of the most imposing public ceremonies in 
England. It derives this character, in part, 
from the manner in which the Sovereign goes 
to Parliament. 

In all ages, the horse has helped to sw r ell 
the pomp of public processions Drj 7 den ren- 
ders Virgil's " bellator equus," led in the train 
of Pallas's funeral, " The steed of State" On 
this occasion the carriage of the Prince Regent 
was drawn by eight horses used only for this 
ceremony. They were of beautiful form, and 
richly caparisoned : 

" With golden bits adorn'd, and purple reins." 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 241 

There sat with the Prince, the Duke of Mont- 
rose, Master of the Horse, and Lord Amherst, 
as Lord in Waiting*. Even in the insignia of a 
state carriage England does not forget the 
field of her power. Conspicuously upon this, 
was a figure of Neptune, in massive gilding. 
Next in the procession came four carriages and 
six, all in rich decorations. These made the 
royal train. It moved from St. James's palace 
through the Park. Thence it came out, under 
the arch-way of the Horse Guards. My car- 
riage got to that point, and stopped with 
others, as the whole slowly turned into the 
street. The sight was gorgeous. Windows, 
balconies, house-tops, were lined. It was 
the spot, where like crowds had witnessed the 
execution of Charles the First. When the 
train reached the end of Parliament Street, 
the number of equipages in the direction of 
Westminster Abbey was immense. All were in 
rows, and glittered in the sun. The universal 
beauty of the horses, for which the English 
are so celebrated, the completeness of every 
equipage, the turrets of the ancient Abbey, 
the vast multitude, presented a scene of great 
animation and brilliancy. The state carriage 
drew up before the entrance to the House of 
Lords. A groom held each bridle, the horses 
champing the " foaming gold." The Prince 
Regent, on alighting, was greeted with long 
shouts. 



242 



RESIDENCE AT THE 18 1 



The ceremony of the dissolution took place 
in the House of Lords. Close in front of the 
throne a space was set apart for the Foreign 
Ambassadors and Ministers. All attended in 
diplomatic costume. The chamber, when I 
arrived, was filled with Peers and Peeresses, 
the former wearing robes of scarlet and ermine. 
In a little while the Prince Recent entered. A 
salute of cannon was at that moment heard. A 
procession formed by a portion of his cabinet 
ministers, preceded him, the Premier, Lord 
Liverpool, going first, and carrying the sword 
of state. The Prince took his seat upon the 
throne. In a few minutes, doors opened at 
the extremity of the chamber, and the Com- 
mons entered, the Speaker at their head. 
They stopped at a barrier, from which the 
Speaker commenced his address to the Throne. 
It recapitulated the important business of the 
Session, gave a prominent place to the subject 
of income and expenditure, saying that, al- 
though a heavy pressure continued upon the 
finances, the revenue was increasing, and con- 
cluded with praying the royal assent to a bill 
of Supply which the House brought up, the 
last of a series that had been passed. The 
title of the bill was read, on which a Clerk of 
Parliament exclaimed, " Le Roi rernercie ses 
loyal subjects, accepte leur benevolence, et aussi 
le veuty The titles of other bills were succes- 
sively read, and the royal assent given by the 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 243 

same officer pronouncing the words, " Le Hoi 
le veut" 

The Prince, who had not yet spoken, now 
' addressed both Houses. He said that there 
had been no alteration in the state of the 
King's health ; that he continued to receive 
from Foreign powers assurances of friendly 
i dispositions, on which he turned with a manner 
appropriate towards the diplomatic corps ; he 
thanked the House of Commons for the supplies 
they had granted; he informed both Houses of 
his intention to dissolve the present and call a 
\ new Parliament, in making which communica- 
\ tion he could not, he said, refrain from adverting 
to the great changes that had occurred since 
L he first met them in that chamber. Then, the 
fj dominion of Bonaparte, whom he spoke of as 
/ the " common enemy," had been so widely 
extended, that longer resistance to his power 
J was by many deemed hopeless ; but that by 
the unexampled exertions of Britain, in co-ope- 
ration with other countries, Europe had been 
delivered from his oppression, and a contest the 
most eventful and sanguinary known for cen- 
turies, terminated with unparalleled success 
and glory. These were the main points of the 
speech. When it was ended, the Lord Chan- 
cellor rose from the woolsack and said, that it 
was the will and pleasure of the Prince Regent 
acting in the name of the King, that the Par- 

R 2 



244 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

liament be dissolved ; and he pronounced it to 
be dissolved accordingly.* 

The Prince remained seated whilst delivering 
his speech, and wore a hat. The Peers and 

* When Queen Victoria delivered her first Speech from 
the Throne, on the first opening of Parliament in 1838. after 
her accession, the scene in the House of Lords, as witnessed 
from the Ambassadors' Box, was extremely brilliant and 
striking. As the youthful Queen, then still in her teens, 
advanced, there was a very slight nervousness perceptible in 
her countenance, while the utmost stillness prevailed through 
the House. When about to ascend the steps of the Throne her 
foot caught in her robes, and she tripped slightly, causing a 
momentary suffusion, but regained her foothold in an instant, 
and took her seat with perfect ease and self-possession, after 
which, in the sweetest tone, she signified to their Lordships 
to be seated. There was still a breathless silence. 

As the Queen proceeded with her Speech, the Premier, 
Yiscount Melbourne, who stood by her side, in his rich 
court dress, holding upright the sword of state, and who 
was thought to be sometimes a little absent, was observed to 
follow, or rather anticipate, every word, by the apparently 
involuntary movement of his lips, and an occasional inclina- 
tion of the head, from side to side, as though keeping time. 

Every word that the young Queen uttered, every syllable, 
fell from her in tones that were captivating', by their softness 
and musical sweetness, with the clearest and most beautiful 
enunciation, while her voice was modulated in the most per- 
fect manner. Yet all so natural, without the slightest shade 
of affectation. 

When the Eoyal Speech was concluded, an evident and 
universal feeling of satisfaction seemed to pervade the House, 
and one of the young men of the Diplomatic Corps, whose 
eyes and ears had been rivetted to the t Throne, and who 
stood near the writer, turned to a friend/ exclaiming, in a 
suppressed whisper, while bobbing his head with excitement, 
— <c Paifaitement bien !." 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 245 

Commons stood, and were uncovered. Mr. 
Canning once described the British constitu- 
tion as a monarchy, intended to be checked by 
two assemblies, one hereditary, the other elec- 
tive, springing from the people ; but, said he, 
some argue as if it were originally a demo- 
cracy, merely inlaid with a peerage, and topped 
with a crown. This gives, in a word, the oppo- 
site theories of the origin of the British con- 
stitution. The remark may be made, that its 
external ceremonies point to a regal, rather 
than popular root. They are strikingly so at 
a coronation, as at the dissolution of Parlia- 
ment, i Take another incident at the latter, 
besides wearing the hat. The Clerk, before 
reading the title to each bill,, made a reverence 
to the Throne ; and another, on laying it down 
upon the table. On receiving the nod of royal 
assent, he turned towards the Commons, gave 
them a look, and barely said, without any 
reverence, Le Hoi le veut. 

The scene would have been more imposing 
had the chamber been better. It is not merely 
deficient in architectural form, but in space. 
The Commons stood in a confused heap, press- 
ing one upon another. Their own room below, 

The writer subsequently heard the young Queen announce, 
from, the Throne, on a similar occasion, her approaching 
marriage to Prince Albert — a trying moment ; yet the an- 
nouncement was made with a mixture of Hegal dignity and 
feminine modesty, composure and timidity, that commanded 
universal admiration. 



246 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

is even inferior in appearance, and alike in- 
conveniently small. Both may have answered 
their original uses centuries ago ; one as a 
banqueting-room, the other as a chapel to a 
palace; but are unsuited to the accommodation 
of Parliament. The mode of giving the royal 
assent to bills, I had read in books ; yet it 
sounded strangely to me as a fact. It has been 
remarked by a great English writer, that these 
old words serve as a memento that the liberties 
of England were once destroyed by foreign 
force, and may be again but for vigilance. The 
remark is a strained one in this connexion. 
England balanced the account of warlike ex- 
ploits with France, in the days of her Edwards 
and Heniys. Tier own sovereign at last gave 
up his titular claim to be King of France. 
Hence it would seem that this little badge of 
the Norman conquest might now be allowed to 
drop off. It was discontinued under the Pro- 
tectorate of Cromwell, the form in his time 
being " The lord Protector doth consent." His 
words of acknowledgment for bills of Supply 
were, " Understanding it hath been the prac- 
tice of those who have been chief governors, to 
acknowledge with thanks to the Commons, their 
care and regard for the 'public, I do very 
heartily and thankfully acknowledge their 
kindness therein" When the Commonwealth 
ended, the foreign jargon revived. 

The Speaker in his address stated that the 
revenue was increasing. I cannot pass this 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 247 

subject by. The income for the year was fifty- 
one millions of pounds sterling. The largest 
item was from the Excise, which yielded up- 
w r ard.s of twenty-one millions. The Customs 
stood next. They gave upwards of eleven 
millions. The Assessed and Land taxes third, 
from which eight millions were obtained. The 
Stamps fourth, which produced seven millions. 
The remainder was from the Post-office, and 
miscellaneous sources. Large as this sum may 
appear for the produce of one year's taxes, it 
is less by more than twenty millions than was 
raised two years ago, the Property-tax and 
certain war duties being then in force. It may 
safely be affirmed that no nation, ancient or 
modern, of the same population, has ever 
before paid so much under the regular opera- 
tion of tax-laws. Of the Excise, I understand 
that the whole amount due for the year has 
actually been paid in, except a fraction of five 
! thousand pounds, part of which it is believed 
will be recovered. So exceedingly small a 
• deficiency on a basis of twenty-one millions, 
■ manifests an extraordinary ability on the part 
of the community at large to meet with punc- 
tuality the demands of the Government under 
this branch of internal taxation. Besides the 
fifty-one millions, which make up the national 
; taxes proper, for Great Britain and Ireland, 
;the sums levied on account of Poor-rates for 
England during the year, have amounted to 
nine millions.. 



248 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

The exports from the kingdom for the same 
time, amounted, in value, to fifty-three millions 
of pounds sterling. The manufactures of the 
United Kingdom constituted four-fifths of this 
sum. Actual value is meant, as contra-distin- 
guished from official. The latter assumes a 
certain standard of price, fixed more than a 
century ago, and no longer applicable as a 
measure of value. The imports amounted to 
thirty-four millions; considerably less, there- 
fore, than the value of manufactured articles 
exported. 

Expenditure for the year has been about the 
same as income. In its great branches, it may 
be classed thus : For interest on the public 
debt, twenty-nine millions. For the Army, 
nine millions ; the military force on the pre- 
sent peace establishment, amounting to about 
a hundred thousand men. For the Navy, seven 
millions ; the peace establishment of that arm 
being one hundred and thirty ships, twenty 
thousand seamen, and six thousand marines. 
For the Ordnance, one million. The Civil list, 
and miscellaneous items absorb the residue. 
In statements whether of British income or 
expenditure, I observe that fractions of a mil- 
lion or two seem to be unconsidered. They 
are scarcely understood but by those who will 
be at the pains of tracing them amidst the 
rubbish of accounts, and not always then. 
As to the debt, what shall I say ? If I spe-* 






: 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 249 

cify any sum I may unconsciously commit a 
fractional error of fifty millions ! To find out 
precisely what it is, seems to baffle inquiry. 
Dr. Hamilton in his work on this subject states 
a curious fact. He says, that in an account of 
the public debt presented to the House of 
Commons in 1799, it was found impossible to 
ascertain the sums raised at different periods 
which created the funds existing prior to the 
thirty-third j^ear of George the Third. This 
candid avowal of ignorance, where all official 
means of information were at command, may 
well excuse, as the able author remarks, a 
private inquirer if his statements be imperfect. 
But I will set the debt down at eight hun- 
dred millions. This as an absolute sum, 
strikes the world as enormous. It loses this 
character when viewed in connection with the 
resources of Great Britain, the latter having 
increased in a ratio greater than her debt ; a 
position susceptible of demonstration, though 
I do not here design to enter upon it. It may 
be proof enough, that in the face of this debt, 
her Government could, at any moment, borrow 
from British capitalists fresh sums larger than 
were ever borrowed before ; and than could 
be raised by the united exertions of all the 
Governments of Europe. Credit so unbounded, 
can rest only upon the known extent and soli- 
dity of her resources ; upon her agricultural, 
manufacturing, and commercial riches ; the 



250 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

first coming from her highly cultivated soil 
and its exhaustless mines, not of gold and sil- 
ver, but iron and coal, for ever profitably 
worked ; the second, from the various and 
universal labour bestowed on raw materials, 
which brings into play all the industry of her 
people, suffering none to be lost for want 
of objects ; the third, from a system of navi- 
gation and trade, followed up for ages, which 
enables her to send to every part of the globe 
the products of this vast and diversified in- 
dustry, after supplying all her own wants. 
This system of navigation and trade is greatly 
sustained by a colonial empire of gigantic size, 
that perpetually increases the demand for her 
manufactures, and favours the monopoly of her 
tonnage. 

These are the visible foundations of her in- 
calculable riches ; consequently of her credit. 
Both seem incessantly augmenting. It is re- 
markable that she extends them in the midst 
of wars. What cripples the resources of tfther 
nations, multiplies her's. Not long ago I went 
to Guildhall, to witness the sittings of the 
King's Bench, after term-time. The court- 
room was so full, that I could hear or see 
little, and soon left it. I was compensated by 
loitering among the monuments in the hall 
close by. The inscription on Lord Chatham's 
drew my attention most, because Americans 
always hang with reverence on his name, and 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 251 

because of the inscription itself. . It dwells 
upon the services he rendered his country, 

BY " UNITING COMMERCE WITH, AND MAKING 
IT FLOURISH DURING, WAR." Such was his 

title to fame, recorded on the marble. Other 
nations should look at it. War, by creating 
new markets, gives a stimulus to industry, calls 
out capital, and may increase not merely the 
fictitious but positive wealth of the country 
carrying it on, where the country is powerful 
and not the seat of war. Moscow may be 
burned ; Vienna, Berlin, Paris sacked ; but it 
is always, said Franklin, peace in London. 
The British moralist may be slow to think, 
that it is during war the riches and power of 
Britain are most advanced ; but it is the law 
of her insular situation and maritime ascend- 
ency. The political economist may strive to 
reason it down, but facts confound him. It 
has been signally confirmed, since engraven on 
the monument of Lord Chatham. The Prince 
Regent pronounced the contest with Bona- 
parte the most eventful and sanguinary known 
for centuries. Yet, at its termination, the 
Speaker of the House of Commons declared, 
whilst the representatives of nations stood 
listening, that the revenues of Britain were 
increasing. What a fact ! The Abbe Du Pradt 
has remarked, that England threatens all the 
wealth, and Russia all the liberty, of Europe. 
Up to the first origin of the contest with 



252 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

Bonaparte, the largest sum England ever raised 
by taxes in any one year of war or peace, was 
seventeen millions sterling. In twenty-five 
years, when that contest was over, she raised 
hardly less than eighty millions. This sum 
was paid indeed in the midst of complaints ; 
but not more than in Queen Anne's time, when 
the taxes w T ere three millions, and debt forty ; 
or at the end of George the Second's, when the 
former had risen to seven, and the latter to a 
hundred millions. It was also in 1815, at the 
close of the same contest, that the world be- 
held her naval power more than doubled ; 
whilst that of other states of Europe was, in a 
proportion still greater, diminished. Hitherto, 
at the commencement of wars, the fleets of 
France, of Spain, of Holland, if not a match for 
those of England, could make a show of re- 
sistance. Their concerted movements were 
able to hold her in temporary check. Where 
are the navies of those powers now? or those 
of the Baltic ? Some gone almost totally ; the 
rest destined to be withdrawn from the seas, 
on the first war with England. There is no- 
thing, singly or combined as far as Europe is 
concerned, to make head against her. France 
is anxious to revive her navy. She builds good 
ships ; has brave and scientific officers. So, 
Russia. But where are the essential sources 
of naval power in either ? where their sailors 
trained in a great mercantile marine? Both 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 253 

together have not as many, of this description, 
as the United States. England, then, in her 
next war, will accomplish more as against 
Europe upon this element, than at any former 
period. She will start, instead of ending with 
her supremacy completely established. The 
displays of her power will be more immediate, 
as well as more formidable, than the world has 
before seen. I will not speak of a new agent 
in navigation, "that walks," as Mr. Canning 
said, " like a giant on the water, controlling 
winds and waves — steam." This great gift to 
mankind, in its first efficient power upon the 
ocean, was from the United States ; but all 
Europe will feel its effects in the hands of 
Britain. 

I had intended to say something of public 
speaking. The dissolution of Parliament might 
suggest the topic ; but I defer it. I have de- 
sired heretofore to make a minute of my im- 
pressions on this subject. I have heard debates 
in both Houses ; but the occasions have been 
unfavourable for calling up the leading orators, 
or drawing them fully out if they rose. I wait 
further lights. 

June 11. Had an interview with Lord Cas- 
tlereagh, on his invitation. He informed me, 
that he had brought before the cabinet my pro- 
posal on impressment, and that it had been 
, considered with the care due to its importance. 

He went into some of the arguments to which 



254 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

the subject always leads. He adverted, first, 
to the opposite opinions which the tw^o Go- 
vernments held on the doctrine of allegiance. 
Next he remarked, that we gave to our ships a 
character of inviolability that Britain did not ; 
that we considered them as part of our soil, 
clothing them with like immunities. I said 
that we did consider them as thus inviolable, 
so far as to afford protection to our seamen ; 
but that we had never sought to exempt them 
from search for rightful purposes ; viz. for 
enemy's property, articles contraband of war, 
or men in the land or naval service of the 
enemy. These constituted the utmost limit of 
the belligerent claim as we understood the law 
of nations. What we objected to was, that 
Britain, passing this limit, should advance a 
claim to enforce her own municipal claim re- 
lating to allegiance and impressment, on board 
our vessels. His lordship did not view it in 
this light. He was forced, he said, to add, 
that on a full consideration of my proposal, the 
cabinet had not found it practicable to forego 
under any arrangement, the execution of which 
was to depend upon the legislative ordinances 
of another country, the right of Great Britain 
to look for her subjects upon the high seas, 
into whatever service they might wander. 

The proposal thus rejected, having declared 
the readiness of the United States to impose 
further restraints upon the naturalization of 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 255 

British seamen, and exclude from their ships 
all not naturalized, I asked his lordship what 
difference it would make if the United States 
would agree to exclude from their ships of war 
and merchant-vessels, all natural horn subjects 
of Great Britain ? 

He replied, that this indeed would be going 
a step farther, but that it would still leave the 
proposal within the principle of their objec- 
tion. That the objection rested upon an un- 
willingness to concede by treaty or convention, 
whatever its terms, the right of entering the 
vessels of a foreign power to search for their 
subjects. 

I said, that I heard this determination with 
regret. I had been ready, otherwise, to submit 
a proposal to the effect last mentioned. My 
regret was the stronger, as it would exhaust 

cj CD * 

all the offers the United States could make. I 
requested him, in fact, to consider such an offer 
as actually made, under full authority from my 
Government. 

I now inquired if any proposals would be 
submitted on the part of Great Britain. Lord 
Castlereagh was prepared with none which did 
not assume, as a basis, the right of entering our 
vessels. For the exercise of this right in a 
manner not to injure the United States, Great 
Britain was willing, he said, to come into the 
most effective regulations ; such as restricting 
the boarding officers to those of rank not below 



256 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

lieutenants ; giving responsible receipts for the 
men taken out, or any other safeguards that 
the Government of the United States might 
propose as better adapted to the end ; that she 
would receive, and in the most friendly manner 
discuss such proposals, in the hope of some sa- 
tisfactory arrangement. I said that the United 
States never could admit the right to enter 
their vessels for such a purpose as impress- 
ment. Besides the objection to it in principle, 
the practice, however attempted to be softened, 
must be liable, from causes altogether insur- 
mountable as between the two nations, to per- 
petual and fatal abuse. This had been shown 
by past experience, and it was impossible to 
remain blind to it. Lord Castlereagh again 
admitted the evils of which it had been the 
parent, expressing his hope that they might 
never recur. 

He next spoke of the Slave-trade. Great. 
Britain, he said, had concluded treaties with 
three of the powers of Europe on the subject; 
Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands. Portugal 
had agreed to abolish the trade, except in cer- 
tain specified places on the coast of Africa, south 
of the equator; Spain, north of the equator, 
from the ratification of her treaty, and in all 
other parts, after May 1820. To these powers 
Britain had paid, from first to last, 700,000/. as 
inducements to the treaties. The clauses stated 
the money to be as compensation to Spanish 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON, 257 

and Portuguese subjects, for the loss of the 
trade. The Netherlands had agreed to abolish, 
immediately and totally, without pecuniary in- 
ducement. The purport of the treaties, speak- 
ing more particularly of the last, was, that the 
contracting parties were to authorize a limited 
number of the ships of their navy to search the 
merchant vessels of each other, found under 
circumstances to raise suspicion of being en- 
gaged in the trade ; and in case of slaves being 
actually on board, to send the vessels in for 
trial ; the tribunals to consist of mixed courts, 
composed of judges, or commissioners, ap- 
pointed by each power ; the courts to hold 
their sittings within the territories or depend- 
encies of each power, but one always to be 
established on the coast of Africa ; no search 
to be permitted in the Mediterranean, or 
any of the European seas north of latitude 
37, or within and eastward of longitude 20. 
These were some of the main provisions of 
the treaties. There were various others de- 
signed to guard against irregularity in the 
exercise of a right which the contracting par- 
ties had mutually conceded for the common 
object. The period had arrived, his lordship 
continued, when it was the wish of Great Bri- 
tain to invite the United States to join in these 
measures, and it was his design to submit, 
through me, proposals to that effect. It had 
occurred to him to send me, with an official 

s 



258 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

note, authentic copies of the treaties them- 
selves ; they would best unfold in all their de- 
tails, the grounds on which a concert of action 
had been settled with other powers, and it was 
on similar grounds he meant to ask the acces- 
sion of the United States, anticipating large 
benefits from their maritime co-operation in 
this great work of humanity. Whilst it had 
occurred to him to make the overture to my 
Government in this manner, he said that, if any 
other course presented itself to me as better 
adapted to the end, he would be happy to 
listen to it. 

I replied, that I knew of none better. I was 
altogether devoid of instructions on the subject, 
as already stated, but would transmit the trea- 
ties for the consideration of the President. 
The United States, from an early day, had 
regarded this traffick with uniform disapproba- 
tion. For many years it had been altogether 
prohibited by their statutes. The existence of 
slavery in several of the states of the American 
Union, had nothing to do, I remarked, with the 
slave-trade. The former grew up w r ith the 
policy of the parent country anterior to the 
independence of the United States, and re- 
mained incorporated with the domestic laws of i 
the particular states where it had been so in- 
troduced, and always existed. Yet, those who 
could not allow their laws in this respect to be 
touched, went hand and heart with the rest of 



-. 






l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 259 

their fellow-citizens in desiring the abolition of 
the slave-trade. 

Lastly, Lord Castlereagh spoke of the com- 
mercial convention of 1815. He reminded me 
that it had but little more than a twelvemonth 
to run, asking if I knew the views of my Go- 
vernment in regard to its renewal. I said, not 
precisely, but expected soon to ascertain them. 

June 12. Dined at the Marquis of Stafford's, 
I am no votary of the rout. The private dinner- 
party shows society differently. The diplomatic 
stranger can hardly command other opportuni- 
ties of seeing it at all. Evening visits he can- 
not make; the late hour of dining is an obstacle. 
Morning calls are a mere ceremony performed 
by his card. Midnight crowds are not society. 
It is only at dinners that he finds it. 

These seem the chosen scenes of English 
hospitality. They are seldom large. Mr. 
Jefferson's rule was, not fewer than the Graces, 
nor more than the Muses. At the London din- 
ners, from twelve to sixteen seems a favourite 
number. Sometimes they are smaller. Indivi- 
dual character and accomplishments, reserved 
at first in these classes, here begin to open. 
Sully, after Paulus iEmilius, said, that to 
marshal an army and an entertainment, were 
equally difficult. Those of which I would 
'speak, present no discordant feelings or topics. 
All obey forms, with which all are familiar. 
Conversation moves along under common con- 

s 2 



260 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

tributions and restraints. There is no ambi- 
tion of victory . To give pleasure, rather than 
try strength, is the aim. You remark nothing 
so much as a certain simplicity, the last attain- 
ment of high education and practised inter- 
course. Such are some of the characteristics 
of these private dinners. Beginning with such, 
I must proceed a little farther. The servants 
are so trained, as to leave to the master and 
mistress no care but of looking to the guests. 
The arrangements of the table are orderly and 
beautiful. All are alike, yet all vary ; alike 
in general conformity ; varying, as taste varies, 
where there is self-confidence in its indul- 
gence; where all have large means, and all are 
on the same level. The word fashion I have 
not heard; nor seen its principle, in mere 
imitation.* The services of silver strike me 
as among the evidences of a boundless opu- 

* How true it is that the word " fashion" is rarely heard, 
or its " principle/' if it have any, witnessed in " mere imita- 
tion/* in these circles, and if those who are prone to imitate, 
would borrow a little of the independence and self-confidence 
of the persons who compose them — most of whom are above 
fashion — the mass of mankind might be the better for it 
whatever the effect in the diminished gains of some of the 
celebrities of the Rue de la Paix, or other quarters of Paris 
And who, after all, are they who ' ' set the fashions !" Thtj 
writer was struck with the good sense of an English Peei 
who remarked, with a quiet smile, on the topic being inci- 
dentally touched after dinner, that he never could understanc 
people dressing to please other people ! For his part, h( 
always dressed to please himself. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 261 

lence. All forms of it, for use or embellish- 
ment, are seen, and in surpassing lustre. Not 
unfrequently, the romantic patterns and fretted 
workmanship of past ages, still remain. Fo- 
reigners from whatever part of Europe, are in 
like manner struck with this profusion of solid 
and sumptuous plate upon English tables, as 
unknown in any other capital to an extent at 
all approaching to comparison. The posses- 
sors, long accustomed to it, seem unconscious 
of its presence; but the foreigner sees in it all, 
national as individual riches. Whence pro- 
ceed, he asks himself, the incomes, so large, 
so increasing, that retain, and acquire in fresh 
accumulation, luxuries so costly, but from the 
land ? and what would be the land with all the 
works upon it, what the crops on its surface, 
the mines underneath, but for the manufactures 
and trade which bring all into value by a vast 
and ever increasing demand ; increasing at 
home as abroad, increasing in war as in peace? 
Our dinner to-day illustrated, as one instance 
might, the characteristics alluded to. It was 
not large. Lord and Lady Stafford, the Earl 
and Countess of Surrey, Lady Elizabeth Leve- 
son Gower, Lord Francis Gower, and a few 
more, made the party. The country life in 
England was much spoken of; also the lite- 
rary publications of the day, this family being 
distinguished by the literary accomplishments 
of its members. The paintings of the masters 



262 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

were all around us. Our hospitable enter- 
tainers invited Mrs. Rush and myself to visit 
them at their seat, Trentham, in Staffordshire, 
than which we could not have known a higher 
gratification. Another topic, always grateful, 
was not passed by ; our country. Cordial 
things were said of it, and enlightened wishes 
expressed that two nations so connected as 
England and the United States, might long 
see their way to mutual good-will. Leaving 
the table, Ave were an hour in the drawing- 
rooms, always an agreeable close to English 
dinners. Ladies make part of them, and rise 
first, the gentlemen soon following and rising 
all together. On no occasion have I observed 
any one gentleman leave the table, until all 
rise. We had music from St. James's Park, 
into which the windows of Stafford-house look. 
Its notes were the softer from the stillness of 
that scene, and the breezes of a charming sum- 
mer night. 

June 20. Had an interview with Lord 
Castlereagh. He read the first draft of a note 
to me, inviting the United States to co-operate 
in putting down the Slave-trade, asking my 
suggestions as to any modifications. I had 
none to offer. It was accordingly sent as pre- i 
pared. I drew up an answer, to the general 
effect of the sentiments I had expressed in our 
conversations, promising to refer the whole 
subject to my Government. 






l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 263 

I renewed the topic of Impressment. Al- 
though in our conference of the 11th I had 
made known the willingness of the United 
States to exclude from their naval and mer- 
chant service all British seamen, native as well 
as naturalized, I did not think proper to let 
the proposition rest on the footing of a verbal 
offer. I reduced it to writing, in terms as 
follow : — 

" The proposal submitted to Lord Castle- 
reagh upon the subject of impressment on the 
18th of April not being found acceptable, the 
undersigned has the honour to offer, on behalf 
of his Government, the following. Each na- 
tion rigidly to exclude from service on board 
their ships-of-war and merchant vessels, all 
native-born subjects or citizens of the other. 
The checks and precautions stated in the 
former paper to guard against fradulent na- 
turalization, to be resorted to (with the proper 
modifications) to prevent imposition relative 
to the birth-place of seamen, or others adopted. 
Seamen already naturalized in the United 
States to be excluded from the operation of 
the agreement, as these, by their laws, cannot 
be included. The number of this class is be- 
lieved to be small, and in a short time would 
cease altogether. Although the stipulation 
i for exclusion must be reciprocal, a provision 
to be inserted authorizing the United States, 
if so disposed, to dispense with the obligations 



264 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

it would impose on their own seamen, when- 
ever the latter may choose of their own accord 
to enter the British service ; this power of dis- 
pensation to be reciprocal, if desired. 

" Should the above proposal be accepted, it 
will follow, that all British seamen or subjects 
now in the United States, and not heretofore 
naturalized, will be excluded from their sea 
service ; and that all who arrive in future will 
be excluded. Great Britain, on her. part, to 
come into a distinct stipulation not to impress 
men out of American vessels. R. R." 

I handed this paper to Lord Castlereagh. The 
proposal had, as I knew, been rejected ; but I 
knew the President's desire to settle this great 
question, and believed that I should be more 
truly the organ of his wishes, by putting the 
proposal in a shape in which it might go upon 
the archives of his Majesty's Government. I 
even cherished the hope, that other views might 
yet be taken of it. His lordship on reading 
the paper said, that he would lay it before the 
Cabinet on his return from Ireland, whither he 
was going the day following, and should the 
proposal, now that it had taken this form, still 
be objected to, perhaps it might be thought 
advisable to put in writing the counter opinions 
of Great Britain. Nothing farther passed at 
this interview. 

The general election for a new House of 
Commons being in progress, and the hustings 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 265 

at Covent Garden open, I said, when about 
to come away, that I intended to go there to 
see what was doing. " If you can wait a few 
minutes," said his lordship, " I will go with 
you ; I want to vote." I replied that I should 
be happy to go under such auspices. " You 
might have better," he remarked. At that 
moment Sir William Scott was announced, and 
I took my leave, finding my own way to the 
hustings. They gave a repulsive picture of an 
English election. Sir Murray Maxwell was the 
ministerial candidate ; Sir Francis Burdett, Sir 
Samuel Romilly, and Mr. Hunt, on the other 
side. The first was not only hissed and hooted 
by the populace, but on a former day had been 
wounded by missiles. He appeared with his 
arm tied up, and a bandage over his eye. I 
was glad to get away from the scene of tumult. 
In a little while Lord Castlereagh came. His 
remark was prophetic ; he was mobbed. Having 
given his vote for Sir Murray Maxwell, he 
was recognized, and four or five hundred of 
the populace, under the opposite banners, pur- 
sued him.* He took refuge in a shop in 

* It is stated that, when Mr. Hunt saw Lord Castlereagh 
come to vote, he called out, " Gentlemen, let me introduce to 
you the Viscount Castlereagli" which led to the subsequent 
pursuit. It is quite true that elections in free countries are 
not always characterized by the highest propriety and de- 
corum ; but it may be safely asserted that nowhere in the 
United States would a prominent supporter of a candidate 
be treated by the other side, as Lord Castlereagh was treated 
here. 



266 EESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

Leicester Square, whence he was obliged to 
escape by a back-way, until finally he found 
shelter in the Admiralty. If the ministerial 
candidate and his supporters were thus roughly 
treated, they bore it with good-humour. The 
former on reappearing after his wounds, again 
mounted the hustings to make a speech. Being 
told that pains would be taken to discover and 
punish the authors of the outrage, he forbad 
all inquiry, saying he had no doubt they acted 
thoughtlessly without any intention of hurting 
him ; a stroke of policy that brought fresh 
votes. As to Lord Castlereagh, I was informed 
that, on reaching the Admiralty, he turned 
round and with much complaisance thanked 
his pursuers, then close upon him, for their 
escort, saying that he would not trouble them 
to accompany him farther; which drew huzzas 
in his favour. 

July 1. Dined at the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer's. His residence is in Downing 
Street, and I may add, historical. His dining- 
room was once Mr. Pitt's. Here he lived 
while Prime Minister ; still earlier, Sir Robert 
Walpole. A portrait of the latter was on the 
wall. You beheld in it the composed face that 
enabled him to sit unmoved under the batteries 
of Wyndham and Shippen, and Pulteney. There 
were at table Mr. and Miss Vansittart, Mr. 
and Mrs. East, Lord Harrowby, the Ambas- 
sador from the Netherlands, the Prussian 



I8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 267 

Ambassador, Mr. Arbuthnot, Secretary of the 
Treasury, and Mr. MacKenzie. 

Mr. Pitt was spoken of. Lord Harrowby 
said that he was a fine Greek scholar ; also 
that he had retained with singular accuracy 
his mathematics acquired at school. He spoke 
of Lord Grenville s attainments as a classic, 
particularly in Greek, and his skill in lan- 
guages generally, of which he knew a great 
number. Lord Harrowby himself has high 
reputation in this line, modern languages as 
well as the classics being at his command in 
great purity. He spoke of words that had ob- 
tained a sanction in the United States, in the 
condemnation of which he could not join ; for 
example, lengthy, which imported what was 
tedious as well as long, an idea that no other 
English word seemed to convey as well. I 
remarked, that we were unfortunate in my 
country, for that if persons, no matter how il- 
literate, used wrong words, they were brought 
to light as Americanisms, whereas in other 
countries such things were passed by as merely 
vulgarisms ; thanking his lordship however for 
throwing his shield over lengthy, which I also 
thought a very expressive word. 

Mr. Vansittart had been reading some of the 
official documents of our Government. He 
said that our appropriations for the military 
service for the year exceeded those of Great 
Britain, in proportion to the size of the two 



268 KESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

armies ; remarking that the British army was 
the most expensive in Europe. The Dutch 
was next, he said ; the Russian cheapest. The 
last cost but a seventh part as much, man for 
man, as the British. I said that the expense 
of an army in the United States arose from 
the ease with which subsistence was otherwise 
obtainable ; moreover, that the service was not 
popular in peace. He assigned a further rea- 
son — our large proportion of artillery ; we had 
three thousand to an army of ten thousand ; 
whilst the British artillery, to an army of an 
hundred thousand, amounted to not more than 
seven thousand.* This I explained by saying, 
that one of the chief uses of a small standing 
army in the United States was to keep fortifi- 
cations in order, adding, that we also made 
large expenditures upon them, under our mili- 
tary appropriations. I owe warm acknowledg- 
ments to Mr. Vansittart for hospitalities and 
other acts of kindness during the whole of my 
mission ; appreciated the more in my public 
and personal feelings, from his high station in 
the cabinet, in conjunction with his individual 
distinction and various worth. 

In a renewed conversation I asked him 
what work was regarded as containing the best 
account of the British finances. He said it 

* The standing army of The United States has been 
largely augmented since. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 269 

was difficult to arrive at a knowledge of them 
from any single work ; but, on the whole, he 
considered Sir John Sinclair's, for the periods 
it embraced, as most satisfactory. 

July 15. Went to an entertainment at 
Carlton-house. It was in honour of the mar- 
riages of the Duke of Clarence, and Duke of 
Kent, who, with their royal brides, were 
present. These marriages, with those of the 
Princess Elizabeth and Duke of Cambridge, 
all within a few months, have led to a succes- 
sion of entertainments in which the diplomatic 
corps have participated. 



270 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 



CHAPTER XVII, 

INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH. — GENERAL NEGO- 
TIATION PROPOSED. — COMMERCIAL CONVENTION OF 

]815. EUROPEAN MEDIATION BETWEEN SPAIN AND 

HER COLONIES. DINNER AT MR. VILLIERS's. — THE 

QUARTERLY REVIEW.— INTERVIEW WITH LORD CAS- 
TLEREAGH. — PROPOSAL FOR A GENERAL NEGOTI- 
ATION ACCEPTED. — MR. GALLATIN TO JOIN IN IT. 

MR. ROBINSON AND MR. GOULBURN, THE BRITISH NE- 
GOTIATORS.— COMMERCIAL CONVENTION OF 1815. 

DINNER AT SIR JOHN SINCLAIR^ AT MR. BENTHAM's 

AT THE FRENCH AMBASSADOR^. INTERVIEW WITH 

LORD CASTLEREAGH. — COURSE OF GREAT BRITAIN 
AND THE UNITED STATES AS BETWEEN SPAIN AND 
HER COLONIES. — AFFAIR OF PENSACOLA. 

July 16. Lord Castlereagh returned from 
Ireland on the 14th. To-day I had an inter- 
view with him on my application. 

I entered upon the subject of the commer- 
cial relations between the two countries. I 
remarked, that it was with reluctance the Pre- 
sident had given his consent to the act of Con- 
gress to exclude from ports of the United 
States, British vessels coming from the West 
Indies or other British colonies, from whose 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 271 

ports vessels of the United States were ex- 
cluded. The act indeed was founded on equal 
justice, and could lay no ground of complaint, 
as had often been agreed by Great Britain. 
Still, the President could not but know, that 
its practical operation might be irritating to 
individual interests affected in both countries, 
and his desire was, to give efficacy to measures 
mutually more beneficial and conciliatory. It 
was therefore that I was once more instructed 
to propose to His Majesty's Government the 
negotiation of a general treaty of commerce. 
The President desired also, that the negoti- 
ation should include other matters. I recapi- 
tulated the four following. 1. The question 
respecting slaves carried off from the United 
States, in contravention, as we alleged of the 
treaty of Ghent. *2. The question of title to 
Columbia River. 3. That of the north-western 
boundary line, from the Lake of the Woods, 
4. The question of such immediate import- 
ance, relating to the fisheries. Upon all these, 
the President preferred negotiating directly, 
rather than resorting to commissioners as 
under the treaty of Ghent, in the hope that 
it might prove the means of the two Govern- 
i ments coming more speedily to an understand- 
ing. If his Majesty's Government was pre- 
pared to go into them all, in addition to the 
question of a general treaty of commerce, as 
the whole would take wide range, the United 



272 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

States would name another plenipotentiary to 
meet, in association with me, any two desig- 
nated by Great Britain. 

Lord Castlereagh asked what was to be un- 
derstood by a general treaty of commerce. I 
replied, a treaty that would open not a tempo- 
rary or precarious, but permanent, intercourse 
with the British West Indies and their colo- 
nies in North America to the shipping of the 
United States ; a subject which I admitted it 
might seem unnecessa^ to bring forward after 
the recently expressed opinions of his Ma- 
jesty's Government, were it not that others of 
interest to both nations were now coupled 
with it in a way to give the proposition in 
some measure a new character. 

He said that the British Government would 
be willing to enter upon a 'negotiation on the 
commercial relations of the two countries ; but 
he had no authority to say that the colonial 
system would be essentially altered. Broken 
down, it could not be. I said, that if it were 
not to be departed from at all, or in no 
greater degree than as provided by the four 
articles spoken of in our conference of the 3rd 
of January, as those articles had not proved 
acceptable to my Government, it did not ap- 
pear to me that any advantage would be 
likely to arise from going into the negotia- 
tion. He replied, that he was not prepared to 
answer definitively upon any of the subjects, 



1 8 I 8. COURT OF LONDON". 273 

but would lay them before the cabinet. He 
professed it to be the earnest desire of the 
British Government to see the commercial in- 
tercourse between the two countries placed 
upon the best footing at all points ; the stake 
to each being alike important. 

In the event of a negotiation not being 
opened on the broad grounds I had stated, his 
lordship asked if it were yet in my power to 
inform him of the intentions of my Govern- 
ment as to the existing convention of July 
1815, now 7 so soon to expire. 

I gave him to understand that the President 
was willing to renew it ; thus keeping it dis- 
tinct from all other questions. It was an in- 
strument satisfactory to the United States, 
because, as far as it went, it placed the tonnage 
of the two countries in each other's ports, on 
a footing of equality. His lordship expressed 
the readiness of his Majesty's Government to 
adopt that course. 

I next passed to South American affairs. I 
said that my Government was desirous of as- 
certaining the intentions of the European Alli- 
ance in regard to the contest in that hemi- 
sphere, and especially of learning those of Great 
Britain, as far as she might be disposed to com- 
municate them. The information was sought, 
not from a mere desire to draw aside the veil of 
European politics, but from the deep interest 
the United States took in that contest. They 

T 



274 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l 



asked nothing which they were not prepared 
to reciprocate, being ready to disclose w r ith 
candour their own intentions. My Govern- 
ment was not uninformed of a general pur- 
pose of mediation by the European Alliance ; 
but upon what precise basis, it did not 
know. This was the point on which it desired 
light. 

Lord Castlereagh made the following replies. 
He said that the British Government was not 
only willing, but desired, to communicate to 
the United States, every thing in relation to 
the proposed mediation. It acknowledged our 
natural interest in the question ; but that, in 
fact, no plan for the mediation had been ma- 
tured. Difficulties had arisen with Spain, on 
points the most essential ; they w r ere increased 
by obstacles to a quick intercourse of counsels 
among parties so remote from each other, as 
London, St. Petersburgh, Vienna, and Madrid; . 
even the place for the mediation had not been 
fixed upon. The Allied sovereigns w T hen 
assembled at Aix la Chapelle in the autumn,! 
would probably take up the subject, although 
meeting primarily for the consideration oi 
others; and as soon as a basis of pacification i 
had been laid down, he would not fail to apprise 4 
me of it. 

Before parting, he gave me the following 
piece of information : that in consequence o] 
the depredations committed upon the lawful 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 275 

commerce of the world by cruisers ostensibly 
sailing under commissions from the Spanish 
colonies, the British Government had issued 
orders to some of its armed vessels to arrest 
and bring them in, for the purpose of putting 
a stop to the vexations and losses they inflicted 
upon British commerce. He added, that the 
orders did not embrace cruisers fitted-out bona 
fide in South American ports. 

July 20. Dined at Mr. Villiers's, North 
Audley Street ;* to whom I owe obligation for 
frequent kindnesses ; not less for invariable 
expressions of good-will towards my country. 
Field-marshal Lord Beresford, Lord Fitzroy 
Somerset, Lady Fitzroy, the Duchess of Wel- 
lington, Mrs. Pole, Lord Maynard, Mr. Pon- 
-sonby, Mrs. Villiers, and my wife, were the 
= party. Conversation turned chiefly on France, 
^in the spirit of commendation I remark to be 
| so usual. 

I After dinner, Lord Beresford spoke to me 
*of the United States. He thought the Union 
Kvould not last. Our Government, he said, had 
Worked extremely well, so far; but must give 

* Afterwards Earl of Clarendon, nncle to the late Earl, 
'he accomplished Foreign Secretary of England, whose 
Agreeable correspondence the writer, while on the Continent, 
lad the good fortune to enjoy, only mentioned here for the 
, ake of referring to the repeated and marked evidence de- 
: ived therefrom of his friendliness towards The United 
States. The former Earl, of whom the author speaks, was 
llso a nobleman of most attractive qualities, as all remember 

ho knew him. 

T 2 



276 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8 

way, it seemed to him, when the country grew 
to be highly populous as well as powerful. I in- 
culcated other doctrine, mentioning, as among 
our safeguards, the federative and national prin- 
ciple interwoven in our Constitution, and refer- 
ring to shocks the Union had already withstood 
in peace and in war.* He complimented our 
Navy ; it had taken England by surprise, high 
praise, had it earned no other, he said ; but, 
from its nature, not likely to happen again. I 
expressed the hope that all such occasions might 
be far off; in which he cordially joined. 

July 21. Mr. * * * * called upon me. 

* The accomplished British officer who expressed the 
above opinion in 1818, might perhaps have seen cause to 
modify it on the termination of the Civil "War between the 
Northern and Southern States of the Union, nearly half a 
century afterwards. Deeply as all who love their country 
deplored that dreadful and prolonged contest, what American, 
animated by the true spirit of patriotism, but must feel his 
national pride rise higher, as he contemplates the rank among 
Nations now every where accorded to The United States as 
one of the great Powers of the World, which nothing but 
tne successful termination of that contest, would or could 
have assured to her. This is said with every appreciation of 
the high sentiments, heroic courage, and other noble qualities 
of the Southern people, among whom the writer was edu- 
cated, and formed some of his earliest and warmest friend- 
ships, but who fell into a fatal error when they resisted the 
authority of the mighty Union of which Washington, (him- 
self a Southern man) laid the deep foundations in the hearts 
of the American People; a People inheriting, may it not 
here be added, from their English ancestors, their keen anc 
sensitive appreciation of the value of the " Star of Empire/ 
How would England have acted under a similar attempt, by r 
portion of her own people, to dismember her great Empire 



i 



1818. COURT OF LONDON, 277 

He said that there would appear in the next 
Quarterly Review, an article on the life and 
character of Franklin. It was to be the 
medium of an attack upon the United States. 
It would disparage the people, and underrate 
the resources of the Nation. It would parti- 
cularly examine the claims of the United States 
as a naval power, and strip them of importance. 
It would state their tonnage at less than nine 
hundred thousand, and as decreasing ; en- 
deavouring to show from this and other things, 
that their maritime resources were not only in- 
considerable at present, but not formidable in 
prospect. The object of the publication wa& 
to lower the reputation of the United States in 
Europe. To this end, it would be translated 
into French, republished in Paris, and thence 
widely circulated. Finally, that the article was 
already known to persons who stood high in 
England, and countenanced by them. 

The last part of what my informant commu- 

1 nicated, may, or may not, be true. The whole 

as of small concern. Cromwell said, that a 

: Government was weak that could not stand 

paper shot. Who then shall write down a 

'Nation ? Insignificant states escape assaults 

of the pen. Powerful ones can bear them. If 

the United States have long been exposed to 

these assaults, so has England. They come 

upon her from abroad, but more at home. 

Anybody who will spend six months in Lon- 



278 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

don and look at only a portion of the publica- 
tions daily thrown from the press, will be 
surprised at the number of denunciations he 
will surely find of England. The crimes and 
other enormities committed by her people; the 
profligacy of the lower orders, the vices of the 
higher ; the corruptions of the Government, its 
partiality, injustice, tyranny; the abuses of 
Law; the abuses in the Church; the appalling 
debt, the grinding taxation, the starving poor, 
the pampered rich — these and like topics, on 
which are based assertions of wide-spread de- 
pravity and suffering unparalleled, are urged 
in every form, and run out into all details. It 
is not the cheap, unstamped press which alone 
reiterates them ; but many of the highest and 
most powerfully supported of the journals. 
Sometimes France is fiercely attacked, some- 
times Russia, sometimes the Holy Alliance, 
sometimes the United States ; but England 
always. The battering-ram against her never 
stops. What English writers thus say of 
their own country, and the picture is commonly 
summed up with predictions of national ruin, 
crosses the Channel next day, is translated into 
French, and, as foretold of the forthcoming 
article in the Quarterly Review, circulated 
over Europe. In a month it has crossed the 
Atlantic, and is circulating in America. Mil- 
lions read, millions believe it. In the midst of 
it all, England goes on in prosperity and power. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 279 

Europe and the world see both, in proofs irre- 
sistible. The enlightened portion of the world 
perceive, also, alongside of the picture of moral 
deformity, no matter how much may be true, 
or how much over-coloured, counteracting 
fields of excellence, public and private, that 
exalt the English nation to a high pitch of 
sober renown. 

It is in this manner I content myself as a 
citizen of the United States. The last forty 
years have witnessed their steady advance, in 
prosperity and power. Europe and the world 
behold both in proofs as irresistible. The en- 
lightened portion of the world will also infer, 
that a Nation with a foreign commerce over- 
shadowing that of the greatest Nations of 
Europe, England excepted ; whose whole 
tonnage, instead of nine hundred thousand, 
already exceeds fifteen hundred thousand; a 
Nation throughout whose borders the public 
liberty and prosperity have long been dif- 
fusing the means of private comfort and the 
lights of general education, — the enlightened 
everywhere will infer, that such a Nation 
cannot be wanting in adequate intellectual 
advancement or social refinements, any more 
than in political power. They follow through 
the indissoluble connexion between causes and 
effects. Ingenuity and ill-nature hunting for 
exceptions may find them ; but the great field 
of excellence remains. It will continue to 






280 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

widen, until Britain herself, renowned as 
she is, will in time count it her chiefest. 
glory, to have been the parent stock of 
such a people. Of the frame of our Govern- 
ment, so often denounced and little under- 
stood, a British Statesman, wanting neither in 
sagacity or knowledge of history — Charles 
James Fox — remarks, that it was precisely 
that constitution which the wisest men of the 
world would give to the people of the present 
age, supposing that they had to begin on a 
clear foundation, and not to destroy any thing 
existing, at the cost of anarchy and civil war. 
Of such a Constitution the citizen of the 
United States may as justly as proudly boast; 
concluding, in the additional words of Mr. 
Fox, that it is the "British Constitution with 
the improvements of the experience of ten 
centuries"* 

July 23. A note from Lord Castlereagh 
requested I would meet him at the Foreign 
Office to-day. I found Mr. Robinson with 
him. The latter is President of the Board of 
Trade, and has recently been called to a seat 
in the cabinet. 

His lordship informed me that he had made 

* It is not for the pen here employed to give expression 
to any panegyric upon these reflections,, but surely no en- 
lightened and dispassionate man in either country would 
fail to respond to them. Ought not two such Xations to be 
friends ? Ought trivial causes to interrupt their friendship ? 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 281 

known my proposals to the cabinet, and that 
a general negotiation would be agreed to, on 
all the points I had stated. "With regard to 
the commercial question, the British Govern- 
ment did not pledge itself to a departure from 
the colonial system in any degree greater than 
hitherto, but would bring the whole subject 
under review ; willing to hope, though abstain- 
ing from promises, that some modification of 
the system, mutually beneficial, might be the 
result of frank discussions, renewed at the 
present juncture. 

I replied, that my Government would hear 
this determination with great satisfaction, and 
joined in the hope that the new effort might be 
productive of advantage to both countries. 

I now informed his lordship, that Mr. Gal- 
latin, our minister at Paris, would take part 
in the negotiation, and come to London as 
soon at it might suit the convenience of his 
Majesty's Government to appoint plenipoten- 
tiaries on the side of Great Britain. 

He replied, the sooner the better, saying 
that Mr. Robinson* and Mr. Goulburn would 
be appointed. He added that he himself 
would be obliged to set out for the Continent, 
in August, to attend the congress at Aix-la- 
Chapelle, and that the negotiation would have 
to proceed in his absence ; but expressed a 
wish that it might open before he left town. I 

* The late Earl of Ripon. 



282 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

said that all our instructions had not got to 
hand, but we expected them daily. He asked, 
whether, to guard against delays incident to a 
general negotiation, I was prepared to agree 
separately to a renewal of the convention of 
1815, for a term of years to be fixed. I in- 
formed him that I was in possession of a power 
to that effect. 

From the manner in which Lord Castlereagh 
mentioned this subject, and it was for the third 
time, it was evident that the British Govern- 
ment strongly desired the renewal of this con- 
vention. The United States desired it not less. 
In the early part of the present month, by 
information transmitted to me, more of our 
vessels w r ere in the port of Liverpool, than 
those of any foreign power, or even English 
vessels, coasters excepted. The latter fact sur- 
prised me. It may be taken as an indication 
that in the trade between the two countries, 
the United States are likely to have their equal 
share as carriers, as long as the charges upon 
the vessels of each continue equal. This is all 
that the United States ask. It is the offer 
they make to all nations. They hold it out in 
a permanent statute, as the basis of their code 
of navigation. 

July 24. Dined yesterday at Sir John Sin- 
clair's, Ormly Lodge, in the neighbourhood of 
Richmond. He had invited us to spend the 
day for the sake of an excursion upon the 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 283 

Thames. Hampton Court, Pope's Villa at 
Twickenham, Strawberry Hill, with other places 
to call up historical or classic recollections, 
would have been within our range ; but we 
were, for this occasion, disappointed. My 
interview with Lord Castlereagh had been 
fixed for an hour that prevented our leaving 
town in season, so that the pleasure of dining 
and passing the evening at Ormly Lodge, was 
all we could command. 

It was the first time I had been so far into 
the country, since our arrival. Gardens, 
hedge-rows, village churches, houses and walls 
with ivy growing about them, met the eye in 
all directions. Here, were evergreens cut into 
shapes as in Queen Anne's time ; there, the 
modern villa, where art was exerted to avoid 
all appearance of art ; so that, even in this 
short distance, the taste of different ages might 
be seen. Looking on the whole, I could not 
avoid the thought, that the lawns so neat and 
fields so fertile, were the soil that the plough 
had gone through when the Romans were 
here. The more did this thought come over 
me, as in the United States we have what we 
call " old fields" worn out by too much use, as 
we think, and abandoned on that account. 
They are abandoned, I must remark, for new 
ones, more fertile ; but when these in turn 
become " old fields" it seems we need be in no 
despair of making the former " old fields" fer- 



284 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

tile again, any more than the latter ! We drove 
through Richmond Park, which completed the 
beauty of the scene. 

Arrived at Ormly Lodge, we w 7 ere cour- 
teously received at the door, and soon went 
to dinner. Sir John and Lady Sinclair with 
several members of their famity, Mr. and Mrs. 
Basil Cochrane, of Portman Square, Sir Ben- 
jamin and Lady Hobhouse, w 7 ith a few others, 
made the party. Sentiments the most liberal 
were expressed towards the United States, both 
Sir John Sinclair and Sir Benjamin Hobhouse 
having an acquaintance with their concerns 
that belonged to inquiring minds. The latter 
was President of the Agricultural Society at 
Bath. He spoke of the agriculture of the 
United States. It had long been his desire, 
he said, that the agriculturists of the two 
countries should correspond, exchanging ob- 
servations, and the results of their experiments. 
I said that those of my country could scarcely 
object, seeing how much they would be likely 
to gain. He replied that agriculturists in 
England w^ould gain too, and spoke of the 
advantage he had himself derived from a cor- 
respondence with Mr. Peters, of Belmont, 
President of the Agricultural Society at Phi- 
ladelphia ; to whose knowledge he bore testi- 
mony, and his happy manner of imparting it. 
He spoke of Mr. Coke's farm at Holkham, in 
Norfolk ; it was in the highest order in which 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 285 

it seemed possible for ground to be, to illus- 
trate productive and beautiful husbandry ; he 
did not know that a weed could be found upon 
it. He called it horticulture upon a great 
scale. This celebrated farm consists of several 
thousand acres ; the enclosure round the park 
was stated to be ten miles in extent; the whole 
estate in that county, to contain about forty 
thousand acres. Having had the gratification 
at a subsequent day, of visiting Mr. Coke at 
his Holkham estate, I am here reminded of 
what he told me was jocosely said when he 
first took possession of it ; that there was but 
one blade of grass on the whole, for which 
two half-starved rabbits were fighting ! All 
accounts agree that it was sterile. Skilful 
farming, aided by capital, had brought it, in 
the course of a single life, into the state Sir 
Benjamin Hobhouse described, and repaid, as 
was added, the large expenditures upon it. 
The remark from Brougham's colonial policy 
about Holland was quoted : that that country 
owed its rich culture to a combination of 
defects in both soil and climate, which put man 
upon his own efforts. What a lesson to nations 
as to individuals ! The principle of the remark 
may be applied to England ; who with her 
superabundant riches and strength, is greatly 
stinted in natural advantages bestowed with a 
profuse hand on many other nations. 

Sir John Sinclair's conversation was instruc- 



286 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

tive and entertaining. He had the double 
fund of a large mixture with the world and 
books to draw from. Early rising was a topic ; 
he thought it less conducive to health than 
was generally supposed, owing to the morning 
exhalations ; we had heard of the robustness 
of the old Saxons, but he doubted if they 
were as powerful a race, physically, as the 
English of the present day ; and as to their 
going to bed at dark and getting up with the 
dawn, that, he pleasantly said, was natural 
among a people ignorant of the art of making 
candles ! In the evening, further company 
arrived from neighbouring country seats. Of 
the number were the Miss Penns, descendants 
of the founder of Pennsylvania. Pastimes fol- 
lowed, promoted and shared by Sir John, 
whose qualities in private life do not fall be- 
hind those that have made him known to his 
country as a public man and author. I men- 
tioned on a former page the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer's opinion of his work on the British 
finances ; I add that, on asking Mr. Coke what 
work might be consulted with most advantage 
on the agriculture of England, he replied, that 
he knew of none, by a private hand, better than 
Sir John Sinclair's. High testimonials ! 

July 27. Dined at Mr. Jeremy Bentham's. 
If Mr. Bentham's character be peculiar, so is 
his place of residence. 

From my house north of Portman Square, 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 287 

I was driven nearly three miles through 
streets for the most part long and wide, until 
I passed Westminster Abbey. Thereabouts 
things changed. The streets grew narrow. 
Houses seemed falling down with age. The 
crowds were as thick, but not as good-looking, 
as about Cornhill and the Poultry. In a little 
while I reached the purlieus of Queen Square 
Place. The farther I advanced, the more con- 
fined was the space. At length turning through 
a gateway, the passage was so narrow that I 
thought the wheels would have grazed. It 
was a kind of blind-alley, the end of which 
widened into a small, neat, court-yard. There, 
by itself, stood Mr. Bentham's house. Shrub- 
bery graced its area, and flowers its window- 
sills. It was like an oasis in the desert. Its 
name, the Hermitage. 

Entering, he received me with the simpli- 
city of a philosopher, I should have taken him 
for seventy or upwards. Every thing inside 
of the house was orderly. The furniture 
seemed to have been unmoved since the days 
i of his fathers ; for I learned that it was a patri- 
mony. A drawing-room, library, and dining- 

n 1 room, made up the suite of apartments. In 
i each was a piano, the eccentric master of the 
whole being fond of music as the recreation 
l;of his literary hours. It was a unique, ro- 
Mmantic little homestead. Walking with him 

a into his garden, I found it dark with the 



288 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

shade of ancient trees. They formed a bar- 
rier against all intrusion. In one part was 
a high dead wall, the back of a neighbour's 
house. It was dark and almost mouldering 
with time. In that house, he informed me, 
Milton had lived. Perceiving that I took an 
interest in hearing it, he soon afterwards ob- 
tained a relic, and sent it to me. It was an 
old carved baluster, from the staircase, which 
there was reason to think the hand of the 
great bard had often grasped — so said the 
note that accompanied the relic* 

The company was small, but choice. Mr. 
Brougham, Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr. Mill, 
author of the well-known work on India, 
Dumont, the learned Genevan, once the asso- 
ciate of Mirabeau, were all who sat down 
to table. Mr. Bentham did not talk much. 
He had a benevolence of manner, suited to the 
philanthropy of his mind. He seemed to be 
thinking only of the convenience and pleasure 
of his guests, not as a rule of artificial breed- 
ing, as from Chesterfield or Madame De 
Genlis, but from innate feeling. Bold as 
are his opinions in his works, here he was 
wholly unobtrusive of theories that might not 
have commanded the assent of all present. 

* It was composed of four twisted columns. Many years 
afterwards the author had it worked into his own staircase 
at Sydenham, at the foot of the stairs, topped with a silver 
plate indicating its history, as "The Milton Balustrade." 
It is still preserved in the possession of the writer. 






i8i8, 



COURT OF LONDON. 289 



Something else was remarkable. When he 
did converse, it was in simple language, a 
contrast to his later writings, where an in- 
volved style, and the use of new or unusual 
words, are drawbacks upon the speculations 
j of a genius original and profound, but with 
| the faults of solitude. Yet some of his earlier 
productions are distinguished by classical terse- 



ness, 



Mr. Brougham talked with rapidity and 
energy. There was a quickness in his bodily 
movements indicative of the quickness of his 
thoughts. He showed in conversation the 
universality and discipline that he exhibits in 
Parliament and the Courts of Law. The af- 
fairs of South America, English authors, John- 
son, Pope, Swift, Milton, Dryden, Addison, 
(the criticisms of the last on Paradise Lost, 
he thought poor things); anecdotes of the 
living Judges of England ; of Lord Chancel- 
I lors, living and dead ; the errors in Burrow's 
; Reports, not always those of the reporter, he 
^said; the Universities of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge; the Constitution of the United States 
| — these were topics that he touched with the 
promptitude and power of a master. He 
quoted from the ancient classics, and poets 
jof modern Italy, (the latter in the original 
also,) not with the ostentation of scholarship, 
which he is above, but as if they came out 
whether he would or no amidst the multi- 

u 



290 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

tude of his ideas and illustrations. He han- 
dled nothing at length, but with a happy 
brevity ; the rarest art in conversation, when 
loaded with matter like his. Sometimes he 
despatched a subject in a parenthesis ; some- 
times by a word, that told like a blow. Not 
long after this my first meeting with him, 
one of his friends informed me that a gen- 
tleman whose son was about to study law, 
asked him what books he ought to read : 
" Tell him to begin with Demosthenes and 
Dante." — "What, to make a lawyer?" said 
the father. — " Yes," he replied, " and if you 
don't take, we won't argue about it." Mr. 
Mill, M. Dumont, and Sir Samuel Romilly, 
did their parts in keeping up the ball of 
conversation. Sheridan being spoken of, Sir 
Samuel Romilly, who had often heard him 
in the House of Commons, said, that " nothing 
could be more marked than the difference 
between the parts of his speeches previously '. 
written out, and the extemporaneous parts. 
The audience could discover in a moment 
when he fell into the latter. It was well ; 
known," he added, " that all the highly 
wrought passages in his speeches on Hastings' 
impeachment, were prepared beforehand and 
committed to memory." 

After we rose from table, Mr. Bentham 
sought conversation with me about the United 
States. "Keep your salaries low," said he; 






/' 



I8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 291 

" it is one of the secrets of the success of 
your Government. — But what is this," he in- 
quired, " called a Board of Navy Commis- 
sioners that you have lately set up ? I don't 
understand it." I explained it to him. " I 
can't say that I like it," he replied ; " the 
simplicity of your public departments has 
heretofore been one of their recommendations, 
but boards make screens : if any thing goes 
wrong, you don't know where to find the 
offender ; it was the board that did it, not 
one of the members ; always the board, the 
board r I got home at a late hour, having 
witnessed a degree of intellectual point and 
strength throughout the whole evening, not 
easily to have been exceeded. 

July 30. The French Ambassador gave a 
dinner to the Prince Regent. There were 
present all the foreign ambassadors and minis- 
ters, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Melville, Lord 
Stewart, Lord Binning, the Vice-Chancellor, 
and other official characters, the company being 
large. The arrangements were on the models 
of France ; for wines, we had Burgundy, To- 
kay, St. Julien, Sillery Champagne, and others 
in esteem at such tables. The fruit course 
'displayed the mingled fruits of France and 
England ; from the gardens of the former, and 
hot-houses of the latter. In England it is 
only by heat so obtained, that fruit can have 
| its full flavour ; yet so numerous over all the 

u 2 



292 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

island are these receptacles of artificial heat, 
that they become as another sun to the Eng- 
lish climate. 

Beautiful as was the appearance of the table, 
the chief attraction did not lie there ; but in 
the distinguished entertainers, the Marquis 
and Marchioness D'Osmond. French society 
has always been celebrated ; the Sevignes, the 
du Deffands, the de Leviss, and a thousand 
others, have told us of it. The manners of 
the French in those days, in spite of the alloy 
mixed with them, command admiration. They 
are embalmed in the literature of the nation. 
Their influence survives in France; for even 
those who discard totally the politics of the 
same ages, cherish the example of personal 
accomplishments that gave grace and orna- 
ment to social life. The memory of them was 
recalled on this occasion. 

But among personages of the class assem- 
bled, exterior attractions are not all that en- 
gage the thoughts. In the drawing-rooms of 
London as the salons of Paris, intervals are 
found for other topics. " What is it?" whis- 
pered to me in the course of the evening an -1 
ambassador from one of the great powers — 

I 



i 

:: 
H 
k 

k 

n 



" what is it we hear about Pensacola ? are you 
going to have difficulty with Spain V I re- 
plied that I hoped not. " May I hear from 
you the circumstances — I should be glad to 
inform my court what they are." I said they I 



I 



s 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 293 

were simply these. The United States were 
at war with the Seminole Indians, a tribe 
dwelling partly in Florida; Spain was bound 
by treaty to restrain their hostilities from 
within her own line, nevertheless, they crossed 
the line, attacked our people, and fell back 
into Florida ; there, they recruited for new 
attacks, and when pursued, found shelter, it 
was hoped without the knowledge of Spain, in 
the Spanish posts of St. Mark's and Pensacola. 
Such were the facts on which General Jackson, 
commander of the United States troops, had 
acted. He had accordingly taken possession 
of those fortresses ; not as an act of hostility to 
Spain, but in necessary prosecution of the war 
against the Indians, and defence of our own 
frontier. The ambassador said, that Europe 
would look with interest upon the progress of 
the affair. I gave the same information to 
one of the ministers plenipotentiary. The 
latter remarked, that the diplomatic corps 
were full of the news; for, said he, "we have 
had nothing of late so exciting — it smacks of 
war." I said that I had no belief the United 
States would detain the posts an hour after 
the necessity that led to their being taken, 
ceased. 

Mr. Poleticca, appointed minister from Rus- 
sia to the United States, was of the company. 
He spoke of the friendly dispositions he should 
carry with him to my country, by command of 



294 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

his sovereign. So strongly, he said, were his 
instructions imbued with this spirit, that he 
would not scruple to read them to Mr. Adams, 
when he got to Washington. I learned, not 
from Mr. Poleticca, but otherwise, that they 
related in part to the United States joining 
the Holy Alliance. This may seem strange. 
It may be explained by the remark, that there 
was nothing objectionable in the ends pro- 
posed on the face of this alliance. Eeligion, 
peace and justice among nations, were its pro- 
fessed objects. It was, however, a sufficient 
objection to any free Government becoming 
party to it, that it sprang from the wills of 
irresponsible sovereigns, was perfected by their 
autograph signatures, and susceptible, from its 
very nature, of being interpreted and enforced 
to their own ends. The Emperors of Russia 
and Austria, and the King of Prussia, first 
signed it. England declined ; on the ground 
that by the forms of her constitution, no treaty 
or league of any kind was ever signed by the 
monarch in person, but by ministers responsible 
to the nation. A representative of one of the 
second-rate powers of Europe remarked to me 
on the mortification which such powers felt 
at having all their movements brought under 
the inspection and control of this alliance. 
He told in this connection the anecdote of the 
Dutch ambassador who was sent to make 
peace with Louis XIV., after his first successes 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 295 

against Holland; but who, on hearing the ex- 
travagant terms demanded by Louis, swooned 
away, as being of a nature never to be yielded, 
and which he knew not how to resist. 

The Prince Regent sat on the right of the 
French Ambassador. The whole entertain- 
ment was sumptuous. The company remained 
until a late hour in the drawing-rooms, under 
the spell of French affability and taste. 

July 31. Had an interview with Lord 
Castlereagh, by appointment at the French 
Ambassador's yesterday. He informed me that 
the Court of Madrid had made propositions to 
Great Britain to mediate between Spain and 
her colonies, and invited the European Alliance 
to join. The invitation was given in a note 
from the Spanish Ambassador in London, 
written early this month. He had not known 
of it at the time of our interview on the 16th, 
having then just got back from Ireland, and a 
convenient opportunity of noticing it had not 
offered when we w r ere together afterwards. 
He had therefore sought this interview. He 
could not better unfold the subject than by 
putting into my hands the notes that had 
passed ; first, the one from the Spanish Am- 
bassador ; next the answer of the British Go- 
vernment, drawn up a few days ago ; thirdly, 
as coupling itself with the subject, a note of 
I the British Government of the 28th of August 
1817, addressed to the Allied Powers and 






296 RESIDENCE AT THE l8i8. 

made known to Spain, containing the senti- 
ments of Great Britain as to a mediation at 
that time. 

I read each note. The introductory matter 
of the Spanish Ambassador's, spoke of the re- 
bellious nature of the war in the colonies, of 
the past clemency of Spain, and her continued 
willingness to terminate the quarrel. It then 
laid down the following as the basis on which 
a mediation was asked. 1. An amnesty to 
the colonies on their being reduced. Lord 
Castlereagh explained this word, which was a 
translation from the Spanish, by saying that 
Spain did not mean conquered, but only that 
her colonies must desist from hostility. 2. 
The King of Spain to employ in his public 
service in America, qualified Americans as w^ell 
as European Spaniards. 3. The King to grant 
the colonies privileges of trade adapted to the 
existing posture of things. 4. The King to ac- 
quiesce in all measures the mediating powers 
might suggest to effect the above objects. 

The British answer approved the proposi- 
tions, as general ones, but called for expla 
tions by which the meaning of some of tl 
might be rendered more definite. It expres 
an opinion that the dispute ought to be heaiea 
without taking away the political supremacy 
of the parent state. It declared that the trade 
of the colonies ought to be free to the rest of 
the world, the mother-country being placed 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 297 

upon a footing of reasonable preference. Lastly* 
it made known that Great Britain would do 
no more than interpose friendly offices, using 
no compulsion should they fail. 

The British note of August, 1817, related 
chiefly to the commercial freedom of the co- 
lonies and the non-employment of force. It 
was very explicit on the first point, going the 
length, as the United States had done, of 
saying that Great Britain would accept no 
privileges of trade at the hands of the colonies 
not open to other nations ; and on the second 
point unequivocally disavowing all intention 
of forcing the colonies by arms, into any mea- 
sures whatever. The proffered mediation at 
this period, went off on the question of the 
slave-trade. Britain insisting on its abolition 
by Spain on terms to which the latter would 
not then assent. 

These state papers, the purport of which I 
give succinctly, record the opinions of Great 
Britain on the settlement of this contest at the 
epochs indicated. 

r hen I had finished reading them, his lord- 
asked if I was in possession of the views 
]y own Government as to a basis of Settle- 
ment. 

I replied in the affirmative ; informing him 
-. that the desire of my Government was, that 
' the colonies should be completely emancipated 
I from the parent state. I was also of opinion, 



298 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

that the contest never would, or could, be set- 
tled otherwise. 

I added, that the United States would decline 
taking part, if they took part at all, in any plan 
of pacification, except on the basis of the inde- 
pendence of the colonies. 

This was the determination to which mj^ 
Government had come on much deliberation, 
and I was bound to communicate it in full 
candour. It had hoped that the views of Great 
Britain would have been coincident. 

Lord Castlereagh appeared to receive the 
communication with regret. He admitted that 
the United States stood in different relations 
to the contest, from those which Great Britain 
held ; as well by reason of the European en- 
gagements of the latter, as other causes. Still, 
he sincerely desired that our two Governments 
should have acted in full harmony of opinion. 
He perceived the extent of interest which the 
United States had in the whole question; en 
which account their concurrence with Europe 
on all the grounds of mediation, although they 
took no part in it, would not have been with- 
out an influence in rendering it effectual. The 
fundamental point of difference was farther 
discussed between us ; but I gave his lordship 
no reason to suppose that the determination of 
the United States would undergo a change. 
The conversation was conducted and terminated 
in a spirit altogether conciliatory. 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 299 

The policy of the United States on the great 
question of Spanish American independence, 
could not have been different. They owed it 
to the actual position of the colonies ; to their 
future destinies; to the cause of human liberty 
in the new hemisphere. The determination of 
the United States to act upon the policy, was 
accelerated by the exertions of a distinguished 
patriot and statesman of the Republic, Mr. 
Clay; whose comprehensive forecast outran the 
doubts of others, and whose ardent, commanding 
eloquence, never tiring in this cause, made its 
impression on the legislative counsels and public 
opinion of the nation. It was a noble spectacle 
to see the United States stretch out their power- 
ful hand to these infantcommunities, anticipating 
the freest government of Europe in announcing 
the decree of their independence. Mr. Canning, 
at a subsequent day, earned a brilliant portion 
of his fame, by throwing the mighty aegis of 
Britain over their freedom; which but enhances 
the fame of their American champion, who was 
foremost in the competition. 

When we had done with this subject, his 
lordship asked if I had any accounts from my 
Government of the capture of Pensacola. I 
said, none that were official. I improved the 
opportunity, as in other cases at the French 
Ambassador's, of giving him an outline of the 
transaction. He expressed a hope that it 
would not lead to a breach of our peaceful 



300 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

relations with Spain, adding that nothing had 
yet been received on the subject from the 
British Minister at Washington. 

August 12. Called at the Foreign Office, to 
inform Mr. Planta, Under Secretary of State, 
that Mr. Gallatin would probably arrive in 
England in a few days by way of Dover, on the 
business of the negotiation. I requested that 
the necessary passports might be forwarded for 
according to him every facility in landing and 
coming to London ; which were promised. 






l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 301 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH. — IMPRESSMENT- 
CASES OF ARBUTHNOT AND AMBRISTER. — MR. GALLATIN 
ARRIVES IN LONDON.— PREPARATORY CONFERENCE AT 
NORTH CRAY, THE SEAT OF LORD CASTLEREAGH, IN 
KENT, WHERE THE NEGOTIATORS DINE AND PASS THE 
NIGHT. — APPEARANCES OF THE COUNTRY. — OPENING 
OF THE NEGOTIATION. — THE POINTS RECAPITULATED. 
— LAST INTERVIEW WITH LORD CASTLEREAGH ON 
IMPRESSMENT, PRIOR TO HIS DEPARTURE FOR AIX LA 
CHAPELLE. 

August 14, 1818. Called on Lord* Castle- 
reagh by his invitation. 

He informed me that causes had occurred 
to prevent the Congress of Sovereigns assem- 
bling at Aix la Chapelle as soon as had been 
expected. The time was now fixed for the 
20th of September ; he was the better pleased, 
as it ensured him the opportunity of being 
present at the commencement of the negotia- 
tion. I expressed nry satisfaction at the com- 
munication, and in turn informed him, that the 
full powers and instructions to Mr. Gallatin and 



302 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

myself had arrived, and that I expected the 
former from Paris in a day or two. 

He next surprised me agreeably by reviving 
the subject of Impressment. I feared that it 
had been expunged from our conferences. He 
premised, that what he was going to say, was, 
for the present, without the knowledge of his 
colleagues in the administration. He had 
reflected upon my late proposals ; they had, it 
was true, been rejected, as they stood ; but 
feeling the great importance of this subject, 
and willing to avoid, if possible, shutting it out 
from the general negotiation, it had occurred 
to him to offer some suggestions to me. He 
thought that my proposals might perhaps be 
rendered acceptable by some modifications im- 
portant to Great Britain, without affecting, as 
he hoped, the primary object of the United 
States. The modifications were these : 

1. That any treaty or convention founded on 
my proposals, should be limited to eight, ten, 
or twelve years, with liberty to each party to 
be absolved from its stipulations on a notice 
of three or six months ; as in the existing 
arrangement between the two countries for the 
reciprocal dismantlement of their flotillas on 
the lakes. 

2. That the British boarding-officer entering 
American ships at sea for a purpose agreed 
by both nations to be justifiable under the laws 
of nations, should be entitled to call for a list 



,8lS - COURT OF LONDON. 303 

of the crew; and if he saw a seaman known to 
him, or on good grounds suspected, to be a 
British seaman, should have the further privi- 
lege of making a record, or prods verbal, of the 
fact, in such manner as to bring the case under 
the notice of the Government of the United 
States, but not to take the man out of the 
ship. 

The latter regulation, his lordship observed, 
would operate as a further incentive to the 
faithful execution of our home prohibitions for 
excluding British subjects from our vessels; 
the former, guard against any irrevocable re- 
linquishment by Great Britain of what she 
believed to be her right of impressment— 
a relinquishment which the feelings of the 
country might not on trial be found to bear. 

To the first modification I saw no insur- 
mountable objection. The second I viewed 
very differently. But as, in the progress of 
the negotiation, a hope might reasonably be 
entertained of getting rid of the second if the 
first were adopted, I said that, while I felt 
unwilling to express an opinion on the pro- 
posed modifications, apart from my colleague, 
whose arrival was so soon expected, I saw 
quite enough in the suggestion of them to bring 
the subject again within the pale of our dis- 
cussions. 

Lord Castlereagh then passed to a new sub- 
I ject, his manner showing the interest he felt in 



S<JQr 
304 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 8. 

it. It was the execution, by order of General 
Jackson, of two British subjects, Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister. This transaction grew out of 
the war against the Seminole Indians. Am- 
brister was taken in the field, fighting on their 
side against the forces of the United States. 
Arbuthnot was made prisoner in the Spanish 
fort of St. Mark's, and charged with instigating 
the Indians to war against our troops and 
people. His lordship inquired if I had any 
intelligence from my Government respecting 
these executions, saying that his Majesty's 
Government had none as yet from Mr. Bagot. 
I replied, that neither had I any from my 
Government. He said that he could have no 
complaint to make at present, the case not being 
officially before the British Government ; but 
assuming the rumours to have any foundation, 
the execution of these men under the mere 
authority of the commanding general, without 
any reference to the Government of the United 
States, seemed an extreme measure. He asked I 
if I could account for it. I replied, that I 
could only account for it by supposing the 
offences to have been extreme. This, combined 
with the distance of the commanding general 
from Washington, had probably presented the I 
whole case to his mind, as one for his own dis- 
cretion. The Indians, when waging war, de- 
stroyed their prisoners, sparing neither age nor 
sex, which necessarily exposed those who took 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 305 

side with them to their own rules of warfare, if 
captured; a momentary humanity might regret 
this kind of retaliation ; but perhaps the perma- 
nent interests of humanity would be promoted, 
as its tendency would be to deter others from 
instigating the Indians to attack our people. It 
was so that I spoke. LordCastlereagh made no 
other commentary than to express a hope that 
everything would be well explained, the oc- 
currence being; of a nature to excite unusual 
sensibility in England. I remarked that I saw 
with concern the inflammatory comments of the 
public journals, before the occurrence could 
be rightly understood in England ; not tTiat 
the press in either country should be left to 
any other influence than its own will, but from 
the fear that it might forerun, in this instance, 
the real nature of the case, and raise up diffi- 
culties not intrinsic to it. He replied by dis- 
avowing all connexion on this, as on other oc- 
casions, between the Government and such of 
the public prints as were said to propagate its 
opinions ; remarking that the Government 
formed its own views of subjects without fol- 
lowing those of newspapers, or dictating them. 
He said at parting, that it was his intention 
to go out of town to-morrow, to be back on 
J the 25th. 

August 16. Mr. Gallatin arrives in London. 

S August 17. Address a note to Lord Cas- 
tlereagh, informing him of Mr. Gallatin's ar- 



306 RESIDENCE AT THE 1818. 

rival, and that we were ready to open the 
negotiation. 

August 19. Receive an answer. Lord 
Castlereagh being still out of town, says, that 
he will be happy to see us at dinner at his 
country residence, on the 22nd. We are asked 
to come early, to give time for a conference 
before dinner, and remain all night. 

August 20. Employed to-day and yester- 
day in going with Mr. Gallatin to leave our 
cards at the houses of the members of the 
cabinet and diplomatic corps. As minister last 
arriving, he makes the first call, though only 
in transitory relations with this court. 

August 23. We arrived at Lord Castle- 
reagh's country seat, North Cray, Kent, sixteen 
miles from town, yesterday at three o'clock. 

We found there, Mr. Robinson and Mr. 
Goulburn, the two British plenipotentiaries. 
After a courteous welcome, we all withdrew to 
Lord Castlereagh's cabinet. An informal be- 
ginning was made in the negotiation. His ■ 
lordship said, that this first meeting was one 
in which he took much interest, though its 
principal design was to bring the plenipoten- 
tiaries together, and fix the subjects rather than 
discuss them. The negotiation was important 
to both countries ; he sincerely felt it so to 
Great Britain ; his Majesty's Government ear 
nestly desired that every question which had ! 
led to past misunderstandings, might be ami 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 307 

cably adjusted at this season of peace, so as to 
lay a foundation of stable harmony for the 
future ; he trusted that the aim of each country 
would be to advance, as far as compatible with 
its own rights and interests, the just rights and 
interests of the other. In short, let us strive, 
said he, so to regulate our intercourse in all 
respects, as that each Nation may be able to 
do its utmost towards making the other rich 
and happy. These were among his introduc- 
tory remarks. Mr. Gallatin and I reciprocated 
their good spirit. His lordship proceeded to 
specify the points the negotiation was to com^ 
prehend. 

Next, he spoke of Impressment. The mo- 
difications suggested to the proposals I had 
submitted for excluding British seamen from 
our service, he would, he said, repeat, for the 
information of Mr. Gallatin. We expressed at 
once our decided objection to the second ; but 
agreed, that the general subject should come 
into the negotiation. VYith impressment, it 
was also agreed that we should let in other 
subjects of a maritime nature ; such as, the 
doctrine of blockade ; the right of a neutral to 
trade with the colonies of an enemy in time of 
war ; the right of search, and list of contraband. 
General conversation was had under each head. 
The conference closed with an understandino* 
that the plenipotentiaries should re-assemble 

x 2 



308 EESIDENCE AT THE I 8 1 8 . 

on the 27th, the negotiation then to open in 
form. 

Business being; over, we took a turn through 
the grounds. The day was fine. We walked 
on lawns from which sheep were separated by 
invisible fences, and along shady^paths by the 
Cray side. The Cray is a narrow river, whose 
waters here flow through grassy banks. Close 
by, were hedges of sweet-briar. Such, and 
other rural appearances, might naturally have 
been anticipated at such a spot. But they 
were not all that we saw. There was some- 
thing I had not anticipated. It was a me- 
nagerie. Taste, in England, appears to take 
every form. In this receptacle were lions, 
ostriches, kangaroos, and I know not what 
other strange animals. Those who collect rare 
books and pictures, are too numerous to be 
computed ; so, those who gather relics and 
curiosities from different parts of the world. 
Some persons are conchologists. They have 
the shells of all coasts arranged under scientific 
classification j like plants in botany. Some col- 
lect pipes. I hear of an individual who has 
laid out several thousand pounds sterling upon 
this taste. And now, amidst lawns and gar- 
dens ; amidst all that denoted cultivation and 
art, I beheld wild beasts and outlandish birds, 
the tenants of uncivilized forests ~and skies, 
set down as if for contrast ! 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 309 

Getting back we were shown to our rooms to 
prepare for dinner, where we were afterwards 
joined by Lady Castlereagh and Lady Sand- 
wich. Lord Clanwilliarn, and the two Mr. 
Stewarts, nephews of Lord Castlereagh, were 
also of the guests, with Mr. Robinson and Mr, 
Goulburn. Every thing was talked of but the 
negotiation. The four-footed and feathered 
exotics seen in our walk, were not forgotten. 
We rose from table at an early hour. The re- 
mainder of the evening went by in conversa- 
tion and conversation-games. My colleague 
and myself felt ourselves at home. Invited 
for the purpose of fulfilling public duties to 
the house of an English minister of state, en- 
trenched in confidence and power, we found 
ourselves of his domestic circle, the partakers 
of a hospitality as easy as delightful. At twelve 
we separated. 

We were under the necessity of leaving this 
agreeable mansion after breakfast this morning. 
It was Sunday. Lord and Lady Castlereagh 
walked to the village church not far off. They 
were followed by their servants, by whom they 
are said to be beloved for their kind treatment 
of them. Those who oppose his lordship in 
politics, accord to him every merit in the re~ 
lations of private life. To his uniform bland- 
ness in all official and personal intercourse, the 
I whole diplomatic corps bear testimony. 

The country between London and North 



310 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

Cray was undulating, Crossing the Thames 
at Westminster Bridge, we left Shooters Hill 
to the north. The whole way presented one 
universal face of cultivation. The hop is ex- 
tensively grown in the county of Kent. It is 
relied upon as a principal crop by the Kentish 
yeomen, who are said to illustrate finely the 
comforts and character of the middle class of 
rural population in England. I was told that 
but for the heavy duty on the importation of 
foreign hops, amounting to prohibition except 
when the home crop fails, not a hop vine 
would be planted in Kent, or any part of Eng^ 
land. The hops from several other countries, 
including the United States, would be pre- 
ferred, as of superior strength, and far cheaper. 
With the corn laws of England, the commer^ 
cial world is familiar. The same policy, it 
seems, extends not to hops only, so connected 
with the vast home consumption of malt liquor, 
and other large items of agriculture, but to 
the minutest products ; comprehending eggs, 
apples, cherries, chesnuts. Watch is thus kept o 
upon the orchards and barn-yards of France ! 
The old custom of gavel-kind still prevails 
in Kent. This made me look with an eye of 
curiosity upon the country. By this custom, 
on the death of a parent, his land is divided 
equally among all his sons, instead of going to 
the eldest, as in other parts of England. The 
latter mode of descent the English defend, as 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. $11 

necessary to their prosperity and power. It 
is doubtless necessary to their form of govern- 
ment. Nothing else could give stability to 
their aristocracy, without which the throne 
would not long be stable. But they say that 
it is necessary to their agriculture, the root of 
all their riches. They allege, that without the 
capital which it places in the hands of great 
landholders, farming could not be carried on 
to full advantage ; the soil could not be im- 
proved to its utmost capability, small farmers 
not being able to command the means, or will- 
ing to incur the risk, of experimental, agricul- 
ture on a scale to ascertain permanent results, 
especially in connexion with expensive and 
constantly improving machinery. They also 
say, that, in the national aggregate, agriculture 
is cheaper when farms are large, than when 
too much subdivided. The same enclosures 
last through ages ; and stock, implements, and 
labour of all kinds, are more economically ap- 
plied when kept together and applied under 
one system^ than when frequently broken into 
small parts. It is so, and more at length that 
they reason. I could not see the proof of it* 

|i' in the portion of this county that fell under 
my observation. The farms, to a rapid glance, 
showed thrift, neatness, and fertility. Nor did 
I learn from those better informed, that there 

1 was any inferiority in the modes of farming ; 
or in general productiveness, as compared with 



312 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

other counties in the kingdom. The gross 
product of agriculture in all England, is. in- 
deed, amazing, when it is considered what ex- 
tensive tracts of her territory are still in downs 
and heath ; and how much of the fertile part 
is in pleasure-grounds. The wonder augments 
when we see what large classes of her popu- 
lation, and of the domestic animals, consume 
without working. The horses in England, 
kept for luxury, are reckoned as fifteen to one 
to those in France. The very pheasants are 
consumers ; grain being raised for feeding them 
as they fly about the domains of the opulent. 

Gavel-kind creates subdivided inheritances 
only when the owner of an estate dies intes- 
tate. He may, by will, prefer the eldest son ; 
and the general feeling in England, which is 
so strong in favour of keeping estates together 
that even younger sons acquiesce in it, exerts 
an influence in Kent. Some lands are speci- 
ally exempt by law from the custom, though 
most of them are still subject to it. I estimate 
fully the political objections to primogeniture. 
I deal not with it in this light ; but the irnag;i- 
nation feels the force of a mere rule of law that 
can link time present to time remote ; that can 
preserve, unbroken throughout centuries, out- 
ward memorials around which it is in man's 
nature that his moral associations should lin- 
ger. It is said that Surrenden House in this 
county, the present residence of Sir Edward 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 313 

Dering, was rebuilt, upon its old foundations, 
in the time of Edward III ; the lineage of the 
proprietor being traceable by family records to 
a period earlier than the Norman conquest. 
In gazing upon these ancient, massive struc- 
tures, we forget the tyranny under which they 
were first reared, and rude customs and super- 
stitions of their age. These are gone. The 
romance of their history remains, stealing into 
the feelings when they are approached as seats 
of modern hospitality. 

The interest of the whole excursion was in- 
creased to me by the companionship of Mr. 
Gallatin. His station as Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary at Paris has added to all his other infor- 
mation, much insight into the courts and cabi- 
nets of Europe. A keen observer of men, and 
possessing a knowledge of books, which his 
knowledge of the world has taught him how to 
read, his stores of conversation are abundant 
and ever at command. He did me the favour 
to take a seat in my carriage, and in his flow of 
anecdote and reflections I had an intellectual 
repast. 

August 27. The Plenipotentiaries assem- 
bled at the office of the Board of Trade, 
Whitehall. The fall powers on each side 
were exhibited, and inspected by the other. 
A copy of ours was handed to the British ple- 
nipotentiaries, and a copy of theirs promised 
at the next meeting. 



314 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 1 8. 

We presented a paper containing a recapi- 
tulation of the subjects which, by our under- 
standing, were to be treated of. They were 
as follow: 1. The Slave question under the 
treaty of Ghent. 2. The Fisheries. 3. North- 
western boundary line. 4. Columbia river 
question. 5. Renewal of the commercial con- 
vention of 1815. 6. Intercourse between 
the United States and British West India 
islands. 7. Intercourse by sea between the 
United States and British North American 
colonies. 8. Inland intercourse between same 
and same. 9. Impressment. 10. Blockade. 
11. Colonial trade in time of war. 12. List of 
contraband. 13. Miscellaneous, minor, ques- 
tions. 

The British plenipotentiaries agreed to this 
recapitulation. Referring to the fifth head, 
they asked whether we intended to discuss the 
provisions of the existing convention. That 
instrument might not, they remarked, contain 
for either party all that was wished ; but if 
opened, each would have alterations to pro- 
pose, which would throw the whole at large. 
Under this reasoning, it was determined not to 
open it for discussion. We expressed a desire 
not to proceed immediately to the formal 
act of renewal, but wait a reasonable time to 
ascertain the progress made on other points. 
The desire was acceded to. The British ple- 
nipotentiaries stated, that they did not view 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 315 

this convention as connected with any of the 
other points, alleging that they had been ready, 
but for our asking a pause, to proceed at once 
to the act of renewal. Both parties united in 
the propriety of its being renewed in time to 
let the merchants of the two countries be sea- 
sonably informed of the ground on which they 
were to stand. After some conversation on 
other points, the meeting adjourned to the 
29tb. It was agreed that the negotiation 
should be carried on by conferences and pro- 
tocol, the privilege being open to either party 
of recording their sentiments on the protocol* 

Whitehall is one of the ancient palaces of 
London. The room in which we assembled, 
had been the chamber of the Duke of Mon- 
! mouth. It was also mentioned that Gibbon 
had often written at the table before us, when 
a member of the Board of Trade. 

August 29. The Plenipotentiaries met. The 
protocol of the last conference, as drawn up 
by the British Plenipotentiaries, was read, and 
adopted. They gave us a copy of their full 
powers. 

Regular discussions now commenced. The 

question about the slaves first presented itself. 

During the war of 1812, great numbers of this 

(description of population belonging to the 

| landed proprietors of the southern States, had 

lifound their way to British ships in the Chesa- 

ipeake, or other waters of the Union. A large 






316 RESIDENCE AT THE 1 8 1 8 .• 

portion had gone on board of them, under pro- 
clamations from the British naval commanders; 
some without these incentives. Others had 
been captured during the progress of the war. 
Their loss was heavily felt by the owners. By 
the first article of the treaty of Ghent it was 
provided, that " all territory, places, and pos- 
sessions, taken by either party from the other 
during the war, or which may he taken after the 
signing of this treaty, shall be restored without 
delay, and without causing any destruction, or 
carrying away any of the artillery, or other 
'public property, originally captured in the 
said forts or places, and which shall remain 
therein after the exchange of the ratifications 
of the treaty, or any slaves, or other pri- 
vate PROPERTY." 

- Slaves came under the denomination of pri- 
vate property, by the highest sanction of our 
laws. The United States held it to be the 
true meaning of the foregoing clause, that the 
British were to carry off no slaves wdthin our 
limits, and in their possession, at the time of 
the ratifications of the treaty, whether such 
slaves were on board their ships, or in forts, 
or other places on shore, held by their troops. 

Great Britain contended for a more restricted 
construction. She said that those slaves only 
were not to be carried off, who, at the time of 
the exchange of the ratifications, were in the 
forts and places where they had been originally 



*l8l8. * COURT OF LONDON. 317 

taken. This was the question at issue between 
the two nations. 

By far the greater number of the slaves of 
whom the proprietors had, by one means or 
other, been despoiled, were attached to places 
that the British had never reduced or taken, 
during the war. Very few had been in forts 
or places so taken, or at all events remained 
in them, up to the time of the ratifications of 
the treaty ; so that, in effect, the British con- 
struction of the clause would have rendered it 
nearly inoperative as to anj r benefit to the 
owners of the slaves. 

We unfolded the views of our Government 
on this subject The British plenipotentiaries 
replied and stated theirs. They asked whether 
our claim embraced such of the slaves as had 
been captured at any periods during the war, 
carried out of our limits, and then brought 
back again into some bay or harbour, other 
than where they had been originally captured. 
We answered in the affirmative ; assigning as 

lone reason, that we did not consider even the 
original capturing of the slaves, under what- 

I ever circumstances, justified by the ordinary 
usages of war. The British plenipotentiaries 
did not accede to this doctrine. 

No definite proposals of any kind resulted 
from this day's discussions. It was agreed that 
we should adjourn to Friday the 4th of Sep- 
tember. The British plenipotentiaries hoped 



318 RESIDENCE AT THE * l8l8. 

to be ready by that day to submit proposals on 
impressment, we promising to hand in, imme- 
diately afterwards, ours on other maritime 
questions. We made known our intention not 
to discuss any maritime question, unless that 
of impressment was brought forward by Great 
Britain. 

September 1. Called on Lord Castlereagh. 
He had sent a note requesting to see me. His 
travelling- carriages were at the door, prepara- 
tory to his departure for Dover on his journey 
to the Continent. He had delayed this inter- 
view, he remarked, as his last act of business ; 
but not one least in his thoughts. It was to 
make a communication to me on Impressment. 
He had reported to the Cabinet all that passed 
at the meeting at North Cray, making known 
especially our objections to the condition which 
went to authorize a British boarding-officer to 
call for a list of the crew. The British Go- 
vernment felt an anxious desire to accommodate 
this difficult subject, and had determined upon 
going all practicable lengths. He had therefore 
to inform me, that this condition would be 
waived. Such had been the determination of 
the Cabinet. He took great pleasure in ap- 
prising me of this determination, hoping I 
would see in it proof of the friendly feeling 
which prevailed in the councils of the Cabinet 
towards the United States. 

I replied in suitable terms to his communi- 



iSlS. COURT OF LONDON. 319 

cation. Continuing his remarks he said, that 
the course which the Cabinet had resolved 
upon, would probably give a shock to public 
feeling in England, when known ; but its mem- 
bers would be prepared to meet it. He con- 
cluded by observing, that the great principle 
being at last settled, viz. that on our engaging 
not to employ British seamen, the practice of 
impressment from our vessels would cease, he 
hoped all details would be easily arranged; 
their proposals, put into form, would be ready 
as soon as we were prepared with ours on the 
Fisheries and West India trade. 

A few words were exchanged on other 
points. Speaking of the trade in time of war 
with the colonial ports of a belligerent, I per- 
ceived a disinclination in his mind to consider 
it as among the questions to be treated of. He 
said that the rule of : 56 was one that Great 
Britain regarded as so well established that he 
did not see how we could touch it. I replied, 
] that I had been under the belief that the ques- 
tion was to come into the negotiation, what- 
ever might prove its fate; adding, that the two 
Governments had been so near an adjustment 
of it heretofore, that there seemed no reason 
to despair now. At this point of the conver- 
sation, Sir William Scott was announced. The 
coincidence claims a passing notice. This 
celebrated Judge of the English Court of Ad- 
miralty, in whose decrees eloquence unites with 



320 KESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

learning to stretch the belligerent and depress 
the neutral claim, was the same whose elabo- 
rate judgment in the case of the Immanuel, had 
done so much towards fortifying the British 
Government in the very rule we were talking 
about. Our conversation dropped. Lord 
Castlereagh was on the eve of departure and 
could not prolong it. He requested I would 
impart to Mr. Gallatin what had passed on 
Impressment, and gave me his adieu. A few 
minutes after I left him, he set off. 

The affairs of the Foreign Office were con- 
fided, during his absence, to Earl Bathurst, 
who received, and corresponded with, the fo- 
reign ministers. The chief purpose of the 
Congress of Aix la Chapelle was, to determine 
whether the armies of the allied powers should . 
be withdrawn from France this autumn, or 
remain two years longer. Besides other con-j j 
siderations galling to France in the occupation, 
the expense, which she was made to bear, 
pressed upon her. Other European topics 
were to engage the attention of the Congress ; 
and the business of Spanish America was not! 
to be passed by, as Lord Castlereagh had, on ^ 
a former occasion, intimated to me. 



: 
tut 

'It 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 321 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE ENGLISH IN THE AUTUMN. — INAUGURATION OF THE 
LORD MAYOR. DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 

1818. Whilst the negotiation was going on, 
its business absorbed attention. Of personal 
occurrences during its pendency I have little 
to say. We dined with some of the cabinet 
. ministers and diplomatic corps. On one occa- 
i 1 sion, a portion of the ambassadors and ministers 
| J gratified me by dining at my house, to meet 
Mr. Gallatin. Some of them had taken a 
lively interest in the progress of our negotia- 
tion. A French philosopher has said, that every 
|day of his life formed a page of his works. I 
cannot claim this merit, if merit it be. It was 
not my habit to note down, as a daily routine, 
the incidents passing around me. I gave myself 
to the practice according tg my feelings and op- 
portunities. During the negotiation, and for the 
remnant of the year, I scarcely indulged in it 
it all. Soon after the close of our joint labours, 
Mr. Gallatin returned to Paris, leaving me to 
regret the loss of a colleague so enlightened. 



322 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

In the west-end of London during the au- 
tumn, little is seen but uninhabited houses. 
It brings to mind the city in the Arabian 
Nights, where everything was dead. The 
roll of the carriage, the assemblage in the 
parks, the whole panorama of life, in circles 
where amusement is the business of life, stops. 
Pass Temple Bar, and winter and spring, sum- 
mer and autumn, present the same crowds. 
Nothing thins them. But the depopulation 
of the west-end is nearly complete. The 
adjournment of Parliament is the first signal 
for desertion. You see post-chaises and tra- 
velling carriages, with their light and liveried 
postillions, issuing from the squares and sweep- 
ing round the corners. For awhile, this move- 
ment is constant. The gay emigrants find 
their country-seats all ready for their recep- 
tion. Thiebault tells us, that the Kino; ©£ 
Prussia had libraries at several of his palaces, 
containing the same books, arranged in the 
same order; so that when going; from one to 
another the train of his studies might not 
be broken. So the English on arriving at 
their seats, even if they have several, which 
is not unfrequently the case, find every thing 
they want ; unlike the chateaux in the pro- 
vinces of France, which are said to be ill 
furnished and bare, compared with the fine 
hotels of Paris. 

The next great egress is on the approach 



1 8 I 8. COURT OF LONDON. 323 

of the 1st of September. That day is an era 
io England. Partridge-shooting begins. All 
who have not left town with the first flight, 
now follow. Ministers of state, even lord- 
chancellors, can hardly be kept from going 
a-field. When our conference of the 29th 
of August was finished, my colleague and I, 
without reflection, named the 1st of Septem- 
ber for the next meeting. " Spare us" said 
one of the British plenipotentiaries ; " it is the 
first day of partridge-shooting !" 

The families that flock into the country, 

generally remain until after the festivities of 

Christmas, which close with Twelfth-night. 

Some stay much longer. Cabinet ministers 

and the diplomatic corps, are among the few 

persons left in the metropolis, and these in 

diminished number. The latter are often of 

I :he invited guests, when the English thus 

t exchange the hospitalities of the town for 

' hose, more prolonged and magnificent, at 

} heir country abodes. Field sports are added 

o them ; hunting of all kinds, the fox, the 

1 are, the stag ; shooting, with I know not 

1 -hat else, including archery, of the days of 

■le Plantagenets. This last, like the chase, 

sometimes graced by the competitions of 

•male agility. But foreign ambassadors and 

inisters do not always find it convenient 

♦ profit of these invitations. If not always 

a gaged in negotiations, a day seldom goes 

y2 



:■■ 



324 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

by with those representing countries in large 
intercourse with England, unmarked by calls 
upon their time. Like men of business every- 
where, they must be always on the spot to 
attend to, or watch it.* But if for the most 
part cut off from these rural recreations, there 
is one way in which they partake of the re- 
sults ; I mean in abundance of game for their 
tables. Amongst the persons to whom mine 
was indebted throughout the autumn, I must 
not forget one of the British plenipotentiaries. 
Let me add, that if not of the same mind with 
us on all official discussions, they both made 
us sensible in all ways of their personal cour- 
tesy. 

The enthusiastic fondness of the English 
for the country, is the effect of their laws, 
Primogeniture is at the root of it. Scarcely 
any persons who hold a leading place in the 
circles of their society live in London. They 
have houses in London, in which they stay 
while Parliament sits, and occasionally visit 
at other seasons ; but their homes are in the: 
country. Their turreted mansions are there 

* During the whole of his residence of seven years and 
half at the English Court, it may be safely asserted that tbj 
very rare absences of the author from his post in London, M 
V ut together, would not exceed two iceeks. Two other instance' 
might be cited of diplomatic servants of the America; 
Government in London, who, during several successiv 
years, were not three days absent from their posts, all pn' 
together. 



l8l 8. COURT OF LONDON. 325 

with all that denotes perpetuity— heir-looms, 
family memorials, pictures, tombs. This spreads 
the ambition among other classes, and the taste 
; for rural life, however diversified or gradu- 
ated the scale, becomes widely diffused. Those 
who live on their estates through successive 
generations, not merely those who have 
titles, but thousands besides, acquire, if they 
have the proper qualities of character, an in- 
fluence throughout their neighbourhood. It 
is not an influence always enlisted on the side 
i ff power and privilege. On the contrary, 
pere are numerous instances in which it has 
■ ? or ages been strenuously used for the fur- 
:herance of popular rights. These are the 
neelings and objects that cause the desertion 
,.)f the west-end of the town when Parliament 
rises. The permanent interests and affections 
e-:>f the most opulent classes, centre almost uni- 
fersally in the country. Heads of families go 
Jbere to resume their stand in the midst of 
iuhese feelings ; and all, to partake of the pas- 
iftimes of the country life, where they flourish 
ejjn pomp and joy. 

In other parts of London, in the vast limits 
' l( etween Temple Bar and the Tower, the 
crowds, I have said, continue the same. Even 
| ere, however, the passion for the country 
;;eeps out. Every evening when business is 
,jver, the citizens may be seen going to their 
jottages that skirt the wide environs towards 



326 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

Highgate, Hornsey, Hackney, Stratford, Clap- 
ham, Camberwell, Greenwich, and in all direc- 
tions. I heard a physician call the Parks the 
" lungs of London " These little retreats, many 
of them hidden amidst foliage, and showing 
the neatness that seems stamped upon every 
thing rural in England, in like manner serve 
their owners as places in which to breathe, after 
the pent-up air of confined streets and count- 
ing-rooms. To the latter they return on the 
following morning to plan operations that 
affect the markets and wealth of the civilized 
world.* 

On the 9th of November I dined at Guild- 
halL It was the day of the inauguration of 
the Lord Mayor, Mr. Alderman Atkins. There 
sat down about nine hundred persons. The 
giants and knights clad in steel, the band of 
music slowly moving round the hall, the Aiders 
men in their costumes, the Sheriffs with their 
gold chains, the Judges in their robes, the 

* The preference for the country life has long prevailed 
among the opulent in parts of The United States, many o£ 
whom only come to the large cities for a few months in the 
year. The same preference has spread of late years, to other 
parts of The Union, where large and beautiful, it might 
almost be said elaborate, residences are often seen, some- 
times far into the country, with ample lawns and pleasure 
grounds, and all else denoting taste and the means of grati- 
fying it. The country houses are sometimes sumptuously 
furnished and adorned. Of the beauty and extent of the 
large parks in the immediate neighbourhood of some of the 
principal cities, too much Can scarcely be said. 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 327 

Lady Mayoress in her hoop, with long rows 
of prosperous-looking citizens, presented a 
novel mixture of modern things, with symbols 
of the ancient banquet. The lights, the deco- 
rations of the hall, and all that covered the 
tables, gave a high impression of municipal 
plenty and munificence. Some of the cabinet 
ministers and other official characters were 
among the guests. 

One of the knights wore the helmet which 
the City of London gave to Henry the Seventh. 
Its weight was fourteen pounds. The other 
knight wore the entire armour of Henry the 
Fifth. It was that of a small man. Lord 
Sidmouth, who sat near me, remarked, that all 
the armour of that day and earlier,, indicated 
the stature to be smaller than at present. I 
thought of what Sir John Sinclair said, at 
Ormly Lcfdge. The reasons assigned were 
improved agriculture, better personal habits, 
from the greater diffusion of comforts among 
the people through the increase of wealth and 
science ; also, the disappearance of certain 
diseases, as leprosy and scurvy, and the ad- 
vancement of medical knowledge. Mr. Van- 
sittart said, that the remains of Roman armour 
had shown the Romans to be a smaller race of 
men than the moderns. 

After the King, Prince Regent, and mem- 
bers of the Royal Family, had been given as 
toasts, the Lord Mayor did me the honour to 



328 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

propose my name, that he might make it the 
medium of cordial sentiments towards the 
United States, These the company received 
with applause. In returning thanks I reci- 
procated the friendly feelings he had ex* 
pressed for my country. 

Before going to dinner we were in the 
council-room. Among the paintings was a 
very large one of the scene between Richard 
the Second and Wat Tytler. Another of that 
between Mary of Scots and Rizzio ; one of 
the siege of Gibraltar, by Copley ; and other 
pieces. But I looked with chief interest at the 
portraits of the naval commanders. Pausing 
at Nelson's, Lord Sidmouth said, that in a 
visit he had from him three w r eeks before the 
battle of Trafalgar, he described the plan of 
it with bits of paper on a table, as it was 
afterwards fought. When we came to Dun- 
can's, he recited the lines, by Lord Wellesley, 
on the victory over the Dutch, off Camper* 
down. At Howe's, Mr. Vansittart said, that 
just before his battle with the French fleet, 
the sailors expressed a wish for a little more 
grog. Howe replied, " Let 'em w 7 ait till it's 
over, and we'll all get drunk together!' At 
Rodney's, some conversation took place on the 
manoeuvre, which he first practised in his 
victory over De Grasse, of breaking the line. 
I asked, whether the success of that mode 
of attack did not essentially depend upon the 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 329 

inferiority of your enemy, especially in gun- 
nery. It was admitted that it did, and that 
Lord Nelson always so considered it. The 
Marlborough, Rodney's leading ship, received 
the successive broad-sides of twenty-three of 
the French ships of the line, at near dis- 
tance, and had not more than half-a-dozen 
of her men killed. My motive to the inquiry 
was, a remark I once heard from Commodore 
Decatur of our service, that, in the event, 
which I trust may not occur, of English 
fleets and those of the United States meet- 
ing, the former would probably change their 
system of tactics in action, Speaking of 
naval science in England; Lord Sidmouth said, 
that it had greatly improved of late years ; 
Lord Exmouth had told him that, when he 
was a young man, it was not uncommon for 
lieutenants to be ignorant of lunar observa- 
tions, but that now no midshipman was pro- 
moted who could not take them. He inti- 
mated his belief, that naval science generally, 
was destined to far higher advances than it 
had yet reached. 

After dinner we went into the ball-room, 
where a ball terminated the festivities. 

I should not soon have done if I were to 

mention all the instances, of which I chanced 

Ion this occasion to hear, of riches among me- 

^jchanics, artisans, and others engaged in the 

r common walks of business in this great city. 



330 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

I make a few selections. I heard of haber- 
dashers who cleared thirty thousand pounds 
sterling a-year, by retail shop-keeping ; of 
brewers, whose buildings and fixtures neces- 
sary to carry on business, cost four hundred 
and fifty thousand pounds ; of silversmiths 
worth half a million ; of a person in Exeter 
Change, who made a fortune of a hundred 
thousands pounds, chiefly by making and sell- 
ing razors ; of job-horse men, who held a 
hundred and forty thousand pounds in the 
Three per Cents ; and of confectioners and 
woollen drapers who had funded sums still 
larger. Of the higher order of merchants, 
bankers, and capitalists of that stamp, many 
of whom were present, whose riches I heard 
of, I am unwilling to speak, lest I should 
seem to exaggerate. I have given enough. 
During the late war with France, it is said that 
there were once recruited in a single day in 
the country between Manchester and Birming- 
ham, two thousand able-bodied working men 
for the British army. It is the country so re- 
markable for its collieries, iron mines, and blast J 
furnaces. Its surface is desolate. A portion 
of it is sometimes called the fire country, from 
the flames that issue in rolling volumes from 
the lofty tops of the furnaces. Seen all around 
by the traveller at night, they present a sight 
that may be called awful. Sometimes you are 
told that human beings are at work in the J 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 331 

bowels of the earth beneath you. A member 
of the diplomatic corps, on hearing of the above 
enlistment remarked, that could Bonaparte 
have known that fact, and seen the whole 
region of country from which the men came, 
seen the evidences of opulence and strength in 
its public works, its manufacturing establish- 
ments and towns, and abundant agriculture, 
notwithstanding the alleged or real pauperism 
of some of the districts, it would of itself have 
induced him to give over his project of in- 
vading England. 

In like manner, let any one go to a lord 
:nayor's dinner ; let him be told of the sums 
owned by those he will see around him and 
others he will hear of, not inherited from 
ancestors, but self-acquired by individual in- 
dustry, in all ways in which the hand and 
jnind of man can be employed, and he will 
e backward at predicting the ruin of Eng- 
and from any of her present financial difE- 
ulties. Predictions of this nature have been 
repeated for ages, but have not come to pass. 
Rich subjects make a rich nation. As the 
former increase, so will the means of filling 
gjlj the coffers of the latter. Let contemporary 
^.•nations lay it to their account, that England 
n jj is more powerful now than ever she was, not- 
withstanding her debt and taxes. This know- 
ledge should form an element in their foreign 
policy. Let them assure themselves, that in- 



$ 



332 RESIDENCE AT THE l8l8. 

stead of declining she is advancing ; that her 
population increases fast ; that she is con- 
stantly seeking new fields of enterprise in 
other parts of the globe, and adding to the 
improvements that already cover her island 
at home, new ones that promise to go beyond 
them, in magnitude; in fine, that instead of 
being worn out, as at a distance is sometimes 
supposed, she is going a-head with the buoy- 
ant spirit and vigorous effort of youth. It is 
an observation of Madame de Stael, how ill 
England is understood on the Continent, in 
spite of the little distance that separates her 
from it. How much more likely that nations 
between whom and herself an ocean interposes, 
should fall into mistakes on the true nature of 
her power and prospects ; should imagine 
their foundations to be crumbling, instead of 
steadily striking into more depth, and spread- 
ing into wider compass. Britain exists all 
over the world, in her colonies. These alone, 
give her the means of advancing her industry 
and opulence for ages to come. They ar-j 
portions of her territory more valuable than if 
joined to her island. The sense of distance is 
destroyed by her command of ships ; whilst 
that very distance serves as the feeder of her* 
commerce and marine. Situated on every 
continent, lying in every latitude, these, her 
out-dominions, make her the centre of a trade 
already vast and perpetually augmenting — a 



l8l8. COURT OF LONDON. 333 

home trade and a foreign trade — for it yields 
the riches of both, as she controls it all at her 
will. They take off her redundant population, 
yet make her more populous ; and are destined, 
under the policy already commenced towards 
them, and which in time she will far more 
extensively pursue, to expand vastly her 
empire, commercial, manufacturing, and mari- 
time.* 

On the 17th of November, died the Queen. 
She expired at Kew Palace, after a long ill- 
ness. The last time I saw her was at an en- 
tertainment at Carlton House. There, as at 
the royal marriage, she had been distinguished 
by her affability. Going away, gentlemen 
attendants, and servants with lights, preceded 
her sedan ; whilst the company gave tokens of 
respectful deference. Now, she had paid the 
common debt of nature. The event was 
communicated to me in a note from Lord 
Bathurst ; a form observed towards all foreign 
ambassadors and ministers. 

The Queen enjoyed in a high degree the 
respect and affection of a very large portion of 
the inhabitants of Great Britain. For more 
than half a century, her conduct upon the 
throne had been to the nation, satisfactory. 
There were periods when it was said that she 

* Whatever may be said to the contrary, reflecting men 
will agree that time has not diminished the force of these 
reflections. 



334 RESIDENCE AT THE l8 I 8. 

had interfered beyond her sphere in public 
affairs ; but besides the obstacles to this 
under a constitutional government like that 
of England, however frequent may be the in- 
stances in arbitrary governments, there never 
appears to have been any sufficient evidence of 
the fact. Colonel Barre, the bold champion 
of the Colonies during the American war, eulo- 
gized her " unassuming virtues" in one of his 
opposition speeches. All agree, that in the 
relations of private life, her conduct was ex- 
emplary, and that the British court main- 
tained in her time, a character of uniform de- 
corum and chastened grandeur. 

Her funeral was on the 2nd of December, 
at Windsor. The body had lain in state for 
the time usual. The procession moved from 
Kew. I went there with my sons. The mul- 
titude was so great, of carriages, persons on 
horseback, and foot passengers, that it might 
be said to form a compact mass from London 
to Kew, a distance of eight miles. It con- 
tinued, as long as I looked, to press onward. 
At night, the road was lighted with torches 
borne by the military. These, gleaming upon 
the soldiers' helmets, and partially disclosing, 
now the hearse, then the long solemn proces- 
sion, winding its slow way with its trappings 
of death, presented a spectacle for the pencil 
or the muse. The interment took place in 
the royal chapel of St. George. There, for 



1818. COURT OF LONDON. 335 

centuries, had reposed the remains of kings 
and queens, and there, they had mouldered to 
dust. Around the vault, seen by dim lights in 
the Gothic interior, were assembled the Prince 
Regent, and other members of the royal family, 
with a few of the personages who composed 
the funeral train. Canning was of the num- 
ber — Canning, with sensibilities always quick 
to whatever in human scenes might awaken 
moral reflection, or lift up the tone of the 
imagination. 

On the 3rd of December the theatres were 
re-opened. I went to Drury-lane. The house 
was crowded, and everybody in black for the 
Queen. Orders for a court-mourning take in 
only a limited class ; but the streets, as the 
theatres, are filled with persons of all classes, 
who put it on. Even children wear it, and 
servants. Such is the usage of the country. 
The play was " Brutus, or the fall of Tarquin," 
a new tragedy, by Mr. Howard Payive, a young 
American. I felt anxious for an author who 
was my countryman, and had the gratification 
jto witness his complete success. When the 
piece was announced for repetition, bursts of 
applause followed, and the waving of hand- 
kerchiefs.* 

* American readers cannot but feel an inward gratification 
t the favourable verdict so often pronounced upon the efforts 
)f their countrymen in England,, and on the Continent, in 
11 ields of literature, genius and art, to say nothing of the 
)r competitions of science and skill in which they have so often 



336 RESIDENCE AT THE 1 8 i 8. 

On the 22nd of the month, accidents oc- 
curred all over London, from a remarkable fog. 
Carriages ran against each other, and persons 
were knocked down by them at the crossings. 
The whole gang of thieves seemed to be let 
loose. After perpetrating their deeds, they 
eluded detection by darting into the fog. It 
was of an opake, dingy yellow. Torches were 
used as guides to carriages at mid-day, but 
gave scarcely any light through the fog. I 
went out for a few minutes. It was dismal. 

taken an active part on public occasions, and at public exhi- 
bitions, abroad, with results which are before the world. 






l8l 9- COURT OF LONDON. 



337 



CHAPTER XX. 



AMERICANS ABROAD.-CASES OP ARBUTHNOT AND AM- 
BR IS TE K .-OPENINO OE PABLIAMENT.-BOTAL spEECH 
BY COMMI SSIO N.-D INNEE AT ME . WELLESLEy ^ 
—CHESAPEAKE AND SHANNON. 

January 1, 1819. Twelve of my countrymen 
dined with me. One or two were residents of 
i-ondon ; the remainder, here on their travels 
borne were going to Italy ; others had been, or 
were going, to France, and other parts of the 
Continent. l 

It has been my habit to see my countrymen 

at my table as often as in my power. To-dav 

as generally on these occasions, we indulged 

n home topics. Admire as we may what Ve 

ee abroad, who among us that has ever left 

us own COu tjy , does fed that h . s 

affections point to it as a centre? Though 
we cannot, ln its infancy, claim for it all the 
,monnments of science, letters, and the arts 

that are the slow growth of time, we 
jalready, under each, made rapid prog r I ss j n 
some, we believe that we have made^n ^ 



2 



338 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

ments. The prospect before us is full of hope; 
not resting on idle boast, but the realities of 
the past. A noble freedom is ours, resting on 
the broad basis of equal rights ; a freedom 
fitted for producing the highest energies and 
refinements of civilization ; yet restrained by 
constitutional limits ; guarded also against 
some of the risks of that state by the habits of 
our people, who from their origin have been 
trained to its blessings, and knowing their im- 
mense value, will know for ever how to cling 
to them. With this, as the ground-work of 
national character ; with political advantages, 
the result of geographical situation ; with 
great agricultural, manufacturing, and com- 
mercial capabilities, to what a career of power 
and fame, if true to ourselves, may we not 
look forward ! These are the sentiments that 
Americans, meeting in another land, delight . 
to 'interchange. The heart has no higher 
pleasures than those which the feelings of 
country inspire. The}' are exalted by absence. 
An American minister abroad, must then be 
evef N in the experience of his purest social 
$ enjoyments, when he sees around him his 
countrymen as guests.* 

* Of late years, a great many of the Author's countrymen, 
not in official life, and constrained by no obligations of duty, 
seem to have become addicted to a ■permanent residence abroad/ 
The writer does not presume to reflect upon such persons, 
who certainly are entitled to think and act for themselves, 



1819. COURT OF LONDON. 339 

January 7. Received a note from Lord Cas- 
tlereagh requesting me to call on him to-day 
at four, at his private residence. It was dated 
last night, and indorsed " Immediate" He 
was confined with the gout. I w r as shown 
into a room upstairs, where I found him on 
his couch. 

It was my first interview with him since the 
negotiation. He expressed his satisfaction at 
what had been accomplished, with a regret 
that more had not been done. Of Impress- 
ment, he said nothing more than that it had 
gone off on a point unexpected. 

He had sent for me on the cases of Arbuth- 
not and Ambrister. The British Government, 
he said, had received from Mr. Bagot, their 
minister in Washington, a copy of the proceed- 
ings of the court-martial, which had been under 
full deliberation at a cabinet council. 

The opinion arrived at was, that the conduct 
of these individuals had been unjustifiable, and 
therefore not calling for the interference of 
Great Britain. 

Whilst announcing this result he had also 
to say, that parts of the transaction were 
viewed as open to exception, whether as re- 



but there certainly is such a thing as patriotism, and perhaps 
the foregoing reflections might be suggested to such persons 
with advantage, without underrating what is seen abroad in 
nature or art, or the agreeable intercourse often met with in 
foreign lands. 

z 2 



340 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

garded some of the operations in Florida, or 
the conduct of the commanding general, in 
ordering Ambrister to be executed after the 
first sentence against him was revoked. He 
then read me a despatch drawn up to Mr. 
Bagot, embracing in substance the communi- 
cation made to me. 

I expressed the satisfaction which I was 
sure my Government would feel at the prin- 
cipal decision, intermingling a regret at the 
other sentiments with which its disclosure to 
me had been accompanied. 

Lord Castlereagh then remarked, that it was 
his desire to hold a conversation with me upon 
the views of the British Government respect- 
ing the Indians along our frontier ; but that 
for the present he would forbear, having rea- 
son to expect a communication from me. Here 
he read part of a despatch from Mr. Bagot, 
dated the 3rd of December, in which he informs 
his Government that Mr. Adams had given 
him to understand that instructions would be 
sent to me to afford full explanations in rela- 
tion to the case of these two British subjects. 

I replied, that I had actually received such 
instructions ; but as they had only just got to 
hand, I was not prepared to act upon them. 
I would be ready at the earliest time he would 
appoint ; on which he named the day after to- 
morrow. I added, that although the decision 
to which his Majesty's Government had come, 



1819. COURT OF LONDON. 341 

might be considered as anticipating to a certain 
extent the object of my instructions, I had 
still a duty of much moment to perform ; for 
that I should ill satisfy the wishes of the Pre- 
sident if I suffered the record of the court- 
martial, strong as it was, to be taken as a mere 
naked record, unaccompanied by elucidations 
of a nature somewhat more enlarged, that 
would serve, I trusted, to place the whole 
transaction in its ri^ht attitude. 

Jan. 11. Called again on Lord Castlereagh. 
My call had been postponed at his instance, 
from Saturday until' to-day. I felt that the 
task I had to execute was the more important, 
from the deep sensation which the execution 
of these individuals had created in England. 
It was not enough that the act could be 
technically justified by the strict laws of 
nations, or sheer rights of war. I felt that it 
ought to stand on broader grounds ; that it 
ought to be vindicated to humanity no less 
than justice. 

I said to his lordship, that full justice could 
not be rendered to the United States, if the 
unhappy occurrence was looked at simply by 
itself. It was indispensable to consider it in 
connexion with principles and facts which, for 
a succession of years, had been interwoven 
with their history. That it was not my de- 
sign to enter minutely into this field ; but that 
I should be unable to represent in their true 



342 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

spirit the views, or fulfil the expectations, of 
my Government, if I did not go into it par- 
tially. That it seemed difficult for Europe to 
understand the precise relations of policy and 
feeling subsisting between the United States 
and the Indians. In many respects the mis- 
conceptions were fundamental. These In- 
dians were savage, wandering tribes ; yet very 
warlike. Their relations towards the United 
States were, indeed, so anomalous ; there was 
such an absence of all standards of comparison 
in Europe, that the rights and obligations of 
the United States were scarcely perhaps of a 
nature to be accurately appreciated but by 
themselves. It seemed a part of their system, 
more than any other, local and exclusive. The 
original question of dispossessing the Indians of 
their homes, was not now for consideration. It 
was with nations that had gone before us. We 
had to take things as we found them. The policy 
and intentions of a nation could nowhere be better 
read than in its acts of legislation, and habitual 
conduct. Judged by both, not only would it 
be found that the United States pursued a just 
treatment towards the Indians within their ter- 
ritory or along their border, but anxiously 
sought in all ways to better th^ir condition. 
They purchased lands from them, only under 
their own consent. They formed treaties or 
compacts with them, guaranteeing their rights. 
Their laws guarded them against the inroads 



1819. COURT OF LONDON, 343 

of the whites, prohibited dealings with them 
by which they might be aggrieved, and in 
every practicable way sought to diffuse among 
them the comforts of civilization. But all 
these just aims had too often failed, and 
through causes which the United States could 
not prevent, and sincerely deplored. When 
peace with the Indians had been interrupted, 
it was never by the wish of the United States. 
In the border strife that preceded open hosti- 
lity, aggression almost necessarily came from 
the Indian. He lived in the forest. His at- 
tack upon the whites was under cover of night, 
or from his ambush by day. Whole families 
were surprised and cut off by him. Pursuit 
could hardly ever reach him, until the tardy 
force of Government was called out. In this 
manner the frontier inhabitants had been slain 
throughout successive generations. But, left 
to himself, the Indian was not always a dan- 
gerous neighbour. If when roused, he took 
his revenge, he was not destitute of peaceful 
virtues. He was, moreover, essentially the 
weaker party. When the Government moved 
its force, he was sure in the end to be over- 
come. Hence, if nothing else prevented his 
incursions, self-interest would be a check, were 
it not for the intermeddling of others ; who, 
with the double guilt of real enmity to the 
j Indians and the United States, became the 
party truly responsible for the fate that awaited 



344 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 I 9. 

the former, as well as the butcheries inflicted 
upon the inhabitants of the latter. 

And here, I said, I came to a painful, but 
indispensable, part of my duty. I was com- 
pelled to declare, that my Government, resting 
upon sufficient proofs, was satisfied, that our 
Indian wars generally, with the massacres on 
the frontier always their preludes, had origi- 
nated in one and the same cause. That they 
had been produced by British traders, intruding 
themselves, with evil intentions, among the 
Indians. To recapitulate the proofs would 
not be difficult. American history contained 
them. A single instance might be adverted 
to. The events of the late war which threw 
the baggage of General Proctor into the hands 
of the Americans, had put the Government of 
the United States in possession of documents 
to show, that if not all the Indian wars which 
President Washington had been compelled to 
wage, the most formidable of them, were insti- 
gated and sustained on the side of the Indians 
by British traders. The enormity of such con- 
duct was the more felt in the United States, as 
it was there alone its consequences were ex- 
perienced. It was known how explicit had 
been the refusals of the Government of the 
United States to admit, under any pretence 
whatever, British traders among the Indians 
within their borders ; from what motives, might 
be easily conjectured from all I was saying. 



1819. COURT OF LONDON. 345 

That his Majesty's Government had disowned 
all connexion with these agents in their work 
of death, was well-known. This only exhibited 
their crimes under a deeper dye, seeing that 
they persevered in perpetrating them in the 
name of his Majesty's Government, mocking 
its justice, abusing its dignity, and misleading 
the poor Indian but the more fatally by claim- 
ing to be invested with its high auspices and 
support. Here was the fountain of the evil. 
If any long train of outrages and sufferings 
along their frontier, could be supposed to affect 
the sensibilities of a people, it was such as I 
was obliged to bring into view. 

It was under the recollection of them all 
that the Government of the United States was 
compelled to regard the cases of Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister. The necessity of reviewing 
proofs against them, was superseded by what 
had passed at our interview on the seventh 
instant. His Majesty's Government had acqui- 
esced in the reality of their misdeeds, by re- 
fusing its avenging arm in their behalf. It 
only remained for me to strip their punish- 
ment of the features of harshness which, im- 
perfectly understood, it might seem at first to 
wear. This I could not do more effectually 
than by declaring it to be the belief of my 
Government, that it was to these two indi- 
viduals that the war w 7 ith the Seminole Indians 
rvas to be ascribed. That without their insti- 



346 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

gation it never would have taken place, any 
more than the massacres which preceded and 
provoked it ; the massacre of Mrs. Garrit and 
her children ; the massacre of a boat's crew, 
with a midshipman at their head, ascending 
the Appalachicola in time of peace ; the mas- 
sacre, upon another occasion, of a party of 
more than thirty Americans, amongst whom 
were women and children, with other massacres 
alike cruel. 

As to Ambrister, he had been taken in arms. 
He had dispensed with the necessity of evi- 
dence, by pleading guilty to the charge of 
leading on the Indians against American 
troops. And in what light did Ambrister 
stand? We find him deceiving them by re- 
presentations which he knew to be untrue; 
striving to rouse them by artful falsifications 
of the treaty of Ghent, and unfounded asser- 
tions of ill-treatment from the Americans. At 
another time he is seen applying to the British 
Minister at Washington, to the British Gover- 
nor at New Providence, and, indirectly, to the 
British Government itself, for arms and ammu- 
nition for the Indians ; drawing on the war by 
impressions made on their mind that they 
would be upheld by Britain ; and presumptu- 
ously usurping the highest official names in 
Britain, the better to carry on his designs. He 
was the patron of the Indians, the penman of 
their petitions, the spokesman at their coun- 






I 8 19. COURT OF LONDON. 347 

cils ; these were the methods by which he 
worked upon their passions ; these the testi- 
monials of his guilt; to which, in the eye 
of the Government of the United States, 
that of the credulous Indian, whilst perpetrat- 
ing his worst enormities, was only secondary. 
It therefore called for the last punishment. 

As connected with the general subject of 
Indian cruelties, I spoke of the massacres of 
American prisoners during the late war by the 
tribes associated with the British army. I 
brought into view those committed after the 
battle on the river Raisin. On that occasion, 
American officers, who had surrendered, were 
scalped and murdered in the presence of Bri- 
tish officers, the latter declaring their inability 
to restrain the ferocity of the Indians. Among 
the victims was Captain Hart, the brother-in- 
law of the speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the United States. The public 
sensation under such horrors, might be easily 
(.imagined. Congress had been forced to pass 
! a law authorizing retaliation on captive British 
officers, in case of their repetition ; the Execu- 
tive Government of the Union having pre- 
viously and repeatedly proposed to Great Bri- 
tain, that neither country should, under any 
^circumstances, employ thelndians as auxiliaries 
in battle. 

Lord Castlereagh asked, if it anywhere 
kppeared that there had been a connection be- 



348 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

tween Arbuthnot and Woodbine, the evidence 
before the court-martial, as far as he recollected, 
not disclosing that fact. Here I gave him a 
copy of the journal in Arbuthnot' s hand-writing, 
kept in October and November, 1816, when he 
and Woodbine arrived iri the vessel of the 
former at Suwahny, from Nassau. This docu- 
ment established a connexion between the 
two, and moreover showed that Woodbine, in 
Arbuthnot's presence, made promises to the 
Indians of support from Great Britain, which 
Arbuthnot knew to be unwarrantable. The 
latter, instead of contradicting them, became 
party to the deception by repeating the same 
promises himself. 

His lordship next inquired if there was any 
evidence that he was apprized of the true con- 
struction of the ninth article of the treaty of 
Ghent. 

Passing by the obvious import of the article, 
that it applied only to Indians with whom the 
United States had been actually at war, I re- 
plied, that there was also positive proof to fix 1 
upon him this knowledge ; viz. a letter re- 
ceived by him from Mr. Culloh, written in the 
name of the commanding officer of Fort Gaines, 
in which he was expressly informed that such 
was its meaning. A copy of this letter, I also 
handed to his lordship. 

I drew to a conclusion by saying, that both 
of these unhappy individuals had clearly drawn 



I 8 19. COURT OF LONDON. 349 

upon themselves their doom. That towards 
those who could deliberately become the 
means of war and bloodshed, the extension of 
a lenient treatment by the United States, would 
be to forget what they owed to their own 
people. Long had they borne the evils inflicted 
by such guilty agents. If a necessary justice 
had at length, for the first time, held up to 
public example two of them, there was room 
for the hope, that, painful as was the example, 
it might be productive of future good to the 
cause of humanity. I was directed by the 
President to say, that whatever deep regret 
might belong to the occasion, there appeared 
to be no ground of censure. The command- 
ing general stood high in the confidence of his 
country, had added to its glory, and was be- 
| lieved on this, as other occasions of his life, 
to have been animated only by a sense of the 
public good. It was scarcely necessary for 
me to add, that those who mixed themselves up 
. with hordes whose rule of warfare subjected 
; to destruction, with torments, all who fell into 
.their hands, threw themselves out of the pale 
lof fehose merciful protections which civilized 
warfare extended to captives. To have al- 
lowed these individuals a trial at all, was an 
indulgence. 

Lord Castlereagh said that he would take 

into consideration what had fallen from me, 

jas well as the fresh papers I had submitted, 



350 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

before offering any thing on his part. He 
asked if I had any further documents to lay 
before him. I said none. " Will no others 
be laid before Congress?" he inquired. He 
had here in his mind the letter of Mr. Adams 
of the 28th of November 1818, to the Minister 
of the United States at the Court of Spain, 
containing so ample a vindication of the prin- 
cipal events of the Seminole war, including 
the execution of the two British subjects. I 
answered, that the President would in all pro- 
bability communicate to Congress other docu- 
ments than the bare proceedings of the court- 
martial ; if so, they might be expected in Eng- 
land by early arrivals. 

In the end he remarked, that he greatly 
lamented the whole occurrence. It was ex- 
citing strong sensibility in England. On this 
topic he dwelt with some anxiety; giving ex- 
pression however, for himself, to none other 
than assuaging sentiments. In this spirit the 
interview had been conducted and terminated. 
It may scarcely be necessary to add, that the 
explanations on my side, were afforded with 
all the conciliation of manner practicable. * 

January 14. Received a note from Lord 
Castlereagh requesting me to call on him. On 
my arrival he said, that the cases of Arbuth- 
not and Ambrister were making a deep im- 
pression on the public mind ; he witnessed it 
with concern, as he knew not what turn the 



1819. COURT OF LONDON. 351 

subject might take when Parliament met ; he 
saw nothing objectionable in the general cha- 
racter of my explanations ; on the contrary, 
that on revolving in his mind all that I said, 
1 there were parts which it was rather his desire 
I would repeat for his more full information. 
This I did, with the amplifications required. 
I spoke of the war with the Creek Indians in 
1813, and the barbarities at Fort Mimms that 
provoked it. These, there was much reason 
for believing, had also been instigated by 
foreign hands. Lord Castlereagh requested I 
would furnish him with a copy of the treaty of 
peace concluded on that occasion, and a copy 
of the act of Congress I had mentioned, autho- 
rizing retaliation. 

January 15. Furnished Lord Castlereagh 
with a copy of the act of Congress of the 3rd 
of March 1813, and a copy of the treaty of 
Fort Jackson, of the 9th of August 1814. 

I had expected that he would say something 
of the views of his Majesty's Government 
respecting the Indians along our frontier, in 
pursuance of his intimation on the 9th instant; 
but he did not. Nor did any further expla- 
nations or remarks of a formal nature, pass 
relative to these executions. 

They subsequently became the subject of 
Parliamentary inquiry. Commentaries that 
might have been anticipated were made in 
debate; but Ministers maintained their ground. 



352 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

Out-of-doors, excitement seemed to rise higher 
and higher. Stocks experienced a slight fall* 
The newspapers kept up their fire. Little 
acquainted with the true character of the trans- 
action, they gave vent to angry declamation. 
They fiercely denounced the Government of 
the United States. Tyrant, ruffian, murderer, 
were among the epithets applied to their com- 
manding general. He was exhibited in pla- 
cards through the streets. The journals, with- 
out distinction of party, united in these attacks. 
The Whig, and others in opposition, took the 
lead. Those in the Tory interest, although 
more restrained, gave them countenance. In 
the midst of all this passion, the ministry stood 
firm. Better informed, more just, they had 
made up their minds not to risk the peace of 
the two countries, on grounds so untenable. 
It forms an instance of the intelligence and 
strength of a Government, disregarding the 
first clamours of a powerful press, and first 
erroneous impulses of an almost universal 
public feeling. At a later day of my mission, 
Lord Castlereagh said to me, that a war might 
have been produced on this occasion, " if the 
66 ministry had but held up a finger!' On so 
slender a thread do public affairs sometimes 
hang. Plato says, that the complaisance which I 
produces popularity, is the source of the 
greatest operations in government. The firm- I 
ness of one man, is perhaps the pivot on which 



1819. COURT OF LONDON. 353 

great events more frequently turn. I adopted 
and retain the belief, that the firmness of Lord 
Castlereagh under this emergency, sustained 
by that of his colleagues in the cabinet, was 
the main cause of preventing a rupture between 
the two nations. 

January 20. Lord Castlereagh gives an 

j official dinner to-day to the members of the 
Cabinet and Privy Council, amounting in all 
to between thirty and forty. The object is, to 

' agree finally upon the Prince Regent's speech 

| to Parliament. It is already drawn up, and 
will be read by his lordship. This is the cus- 
tom, my informant said* every year, the day 
before Parliament meets. The office of enter- 
taining the Ministers, and reading the speech, 

| generally devolves, he added, on the leading 
ministerial member in the House of Commons. 
It had been for many years in the hands of 
Lord Castlereagh. 

January 21. Parliament was opened. The 
Prince Regent did not come in person to the 
House of Lords. Five Commissioners repre- 
sented him, viz. the Lord Chancellor, the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Marquis Cam- 
den, the Earl of Westmoreland, and the Earl 
of Harrowby. The speech was read by the 
Lord Chancellor. It announced two events, 
and only two, in connexion with the foreign 
"elation s of the country. First, that the 
negotiations of Aix la Chapelle had led to 

2 A 



354 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

the evacuation of the French territory by the 
Allied armies. Secondly, that a treaty had 
been concluded with the United States for the 
renewal of the commercial convention, and 
" the amicable adjustment of several points of 
" mutual importance to the interests of both 
" nations." It stated the trade and manufac- 
tures of Great Britain to be in a most flourish- 
ing condition, and that there was a progressive 
improvement of the revenue in its most impor- 
tant branches. 

January 23. Dined at Mr. Wellesley Pole's. 
There were at table, Mr. and Mrs Pole, Mrs. 
Rush, Lady Harvey of Maryland,* Lady 
Georgiana Fane, Miss Caton of Maryland, the 
Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Westmoreland, 
Lord Fitzroy Somerset, one of the aids of 
the Duke of Wellington, Sir Felton Harvey 
another, young Mr. Fane, Mr. M'Tavish of 
Baltimore, and Mr. Bouverie. 

Conversation was various. Mr. Bagot's pro- 
bable return home in May, was mentioned. A 
frigate was to be sent for him. I spoke of the 
satisfaction his diplomatic career had given at 
Washington, and from authority, having been 
directed by the President to say so to Lord 
Castlereagh. 

Paris and French society were talked of. 
The Duke of Wellington and Lord Fitzroy 
Somerset took a leading share in what was 

* See ante p. 85, note. 



l8l 9- COURT OF LONDON, 355 

said. Mention was made of a solemn celebra- 
tion on Thursday at the chapel of the French 
Embassy in London, to commemorate the anni- 
versary of the execution of Louis the Sixteenth. 
The priest read the will of Louis. Lord 
Fitzroy Somerset, in decribing the good ac- 
commodations of the house in Paris in which 
the Duke resided when last there, said it was 
the same that President Monroe had occupied 
during his mission to France. 

We heard of the exploits of one of the com- 
pany during the late shooting-season. Eight 
hundred and twelve partridges, and three 
hundred and thirty pheasants, were the fruits 
of his marksmanship. Other exploits of the 
same nature were spoken of; some that ex- 
ceeded them. A gentleman was named on 
whose estate, at the preceding season, three 
thousand hares were shot by himself and 
friends; all explained, I might add, by the 
game monopoly. Something remarkable for 
numbers in another way, happened to be 
stated ; that Colonel Vivian was one of twenty- 
six children, and the Bishop of Norwich the 
youngest of thirty. 

Painting became a topic. The collections 
in France, Spain, and the Low Countries, were 
familiar to some of the company. • My atten- 
tion was most excited by what was said of a 
picture of the Black Prince, lately picked up 
for a few francs at a sale on the Continent. 

2 a 2 



&56 RESIDENCE AT THE I 8 19. 

Mr. Pole said there were good grounds for 
believing it to be an original, formerly of the 
royal collection in England. .The account 
given was, that James II. took it with him to 
France when he abdicated, since which it had 
been lost sight of, until traced by chance at 
this sale. Lord Westmoreland had his doubts, 
from the circumstances under which James left 
England. Mr. Pole saw no incompatibility. 
This turned the conversation to the personal 
fortunes of that monarch. The picture after- 
wards gave it a turn to the Plantagenets. 
Touching upon this part of English history, it 
was remarked, that the Duke of Wellington 
had won a battle in Spain on the ground where 
the Black Prince gained one ; that both had 
fought in the cause of the crown of Spain, 
one for the restoration of Peter of Castile, the 
other for that of Ferdinand the Seventh ; each 
Spanish monarch having been ejected by the 
French. These were close parallels. Another 
was probably in the thoughts of the company 
— the fields of Poictiers and Waterloo. All, I 
believe, would have destined the picture, if 
genuine, to the ownership of the Duke, as a 
companion to the colossal statue of Napoleon 
at Apsley House. 

Sir Felton Harvey and Lord Fitzroy Somer- 
set had each lost an arm in the battles of the 
Duke. The Duke himself had never been 
wounded. Others of his military suite had 



1819. COUET OF LONDON. 357 

been maimed or killed by his side. Sir Felton 
had been with him in most of his campaigns in 
the Peninsula. He said to me, speaking of 
the Duke after dinner, that his self-possession 
enabled him to sleep soundly on the brink of 
danger. Often when lying down, under his 
usual order to be awoke if necessary, he had 
known him called up repeatedly within a few 
hours, by the arrival of expresses, and if no 
movement were required, drop asleep again in 
a moment. It was such conversation and more* 
that the evening brought with it.* 

Of Sir Felton Harvey I subsequently learned 
an anecdote. It may be in print, but I have 
not seen it During oae of the battles in 
Spain, the Duke gave him an order to convey 
to another part of the field. Half across i#, a 
French officer was seen galloping towards him. 
Sir Felton had no sword. It was his right 
arm he had lost ; the other held the bridle. 

* Among the endless anecdotes of the Duke and Waterloo, 
it is related, that one morning, either at Strathfieldsaye or 
elsewhere, the Duke came down rather late to breakfast, and 
found some of the company still lingering at table. Ap- 
proaching the fire, he stood for an instant in the act of 
rubbing his hands together,, and then turned round, when 
one of the ladies present remarked, " Duke, we've just been 
talking about you." " Ah, ah, indeed," said the Duke, " and 
what have you been saying V 3 " We've rather come to the 
conclusion that Bonaparte ought to have defeated you." 
' ' Indeed," said the Duke, again rubbing his hands together, 
" then why did'nt he ?" 



358 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

But he faced the foe, looking him defiance. 
As they swiftly drew near, the Frenchman 
raised himself in his stirrups, his sword up- 
lifted. Discovering his adversary to be de- 
fenceless, he brought down his weapon in the 
form of a salute, and rapidly passed on. Such 
acts give to war touches of moral beauty, in 
spite of its evils. After the battle, the restless 
courtesy of Harvey sought in vain for the 
chivalrous GauL There was too much reason 
to think he fell. He had made no boast of 
sparing life, but gave his salute in silence. 

January 26. Mr. * * * * * called on me. 
He had applied for an interview, stating himself 
to be . It was his purpose to ask in- 
formation relative to the navy boards of the 
United States, and other matters pertaining to 
the civil organization of our marine. He talked 
a good deal. Sometimes his remarks were 
more full than the mere desire for , information 
seemed to call for. A foolish rumour was in 
town of Bonaparte's escape from St. Helena, 
the rumour adding that a fast-sailing American 
schooner had been in the plot. This led him 
to speak of the exploits of the American navy. 
He touched upon them with sufficient com- 
plaisance, but wound up with an allusion to 
the action between the Chesapeake and Shan- 
non. That, on the whole, ought to be con- 
sidered, he thought, the fairest trial of the 
naval prowess of the two countries, frigate to 



1819. COURT OF LONDON. 359 

frigate. I did not argue with him. He soon 
left me, after the somewhat singular topics it 
had been his pleasure to indulge in. I am 
bound to add that it is the first and only time it 
had been my lot to hear any broached in Eng- 
land not suited to the good feelings of conver- 
sation. 

The Chesapeake, it is true, was captured. 
The English commander sought the battle 
with a noble, daring spirit, and won his 
prize gallantly.* Let no American gainsay 
this, for is it for Americans to rob valour of its 
renown ? We heard how the achievement was 
hailed in England ; the more, as it first broke 
the spell of an uninterrupted series of naval 
encounters between the two countries termi- 
nating differently. But with whatever satis- 
faction received there, whatever joy it may 
have created in England, I cannot think 
that it equalled, nay, I am sure that it 
did not, the opposite feeling in the United 

* Captain Brooke, of the British frigate u Shannon." 
The writer was afterwards at school with his son, the school 
first referred to., ante page 237. It may be taken*for granted 
that this celebrated naval engagement was not unknown in 
the school, the period being then not remote. Sometimes 
it became a topic, an animated one, perhaps all the more so, 
from the presence of the Hero's son, and the sons of the 
American Minister. If the discussions, growing out of it,, 
were not always characterized by the restraints of riper 
years, or the strictest adherence to the to irpzirov, they were 
at least conducted with the genuine heartiness, not to say 
abandon, of that " happiest stage of life." 



360 RESIDENCE AT THE 1819. 

States. I remember, who among us can 
forget, the first rumour of it. I remember 
the startling sensation. I remember, at first, 
the universal incredulity. I remember how 
the post-offices were thronged, for successive 
days, by anxious inquiring thousands, under 
the disheartening reports that successively 
reached the Capital ; and then how collections 
of people rode out for miles upon the highway, 
to catch something by anticipation as the mail 
came in. At last, when hope gave way, and 
the certainty of her capture no longer remained 
in doubt, I remember the universal gloom. 
Funeral orations, badges of mourning, testified 
it. "Don't give up the ship !" the dying 
words of Lawrence, slain by the first broadside, 
were on every tongue. Wrapped in his Flag 
as a winding sheet, his remains were conveyed 
by the victors to Halifax, and there interred 
with the honours due to a brave foe. But not 
long did they lie there. When peace came, 
a vessel fitted out by the prompt, affectionate 
patriotism of twelve New England sea-captains, 
and by them exclusively manned, bore them 
back to his country, the country he so loved, 
the country he so nobly died for. There they 
repose, under the laurel as the cypress ; for he 
too, in his turn, had formerly triumphed, ship 
to ship, over the world-renowned Flag of Eng- 
land. Others may augur the naval destinies of the 
United States from their repeated and splendid 



1819. COURT OF LONDON. 361 

victories, even in the very infancy of the Re- 
public ; I— from the grief that followed this 
defeat. It illustrated the intensity of feeling 
prevailing among a People where each one 
identified himself with the Nation, and seemed 
as sorely struck down by a public calamity, as 
if it had been a personal blow. What may 
not be hoped from such a People in the 
achievements of War ; what, in all that may 
contribute to their triumphant advancement in 
the arts of Peace, and to their social, as their 
political, progress, if true to themselves, and 
their happy and powerful Union. 



The writer feels most reluctant to add anything of his own 
to the above concluding passage of this portion of the 
present volume, yet, concluding as it does with a tribute to 
the value of The Union, he cannot forbear here expressing, 
as his belief, how the author's soul would have swelled with 
patriotic emotion, could he have lived to witness the final 
triumph of the great cause of The Union over four dreadful 
years of armed domestic insurrection. 

Sincerely attached, as the author was, to the brave People 
who thus, in an evil hour, suffered themselves to rise against 
the authority of the General Government, and attempt the 
violent disruption of The Union of The States ; estimating, 
as he always did, in a very high degree, their attractive and 
noble qualities ; closely connected with the South by the 
ties of marriage ; two of the three Administrations of which 
he was successively a member, having each at their head 
a great Yirginia statesman, President Madison and Presi- 
dent Monroe, whereby he was brought, for a series of years, 
into the closest official and personal intercourse with dis- 



362 EESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF LONDON. 1819. 

tinguished Southern men ; imbibing from those two pure and 
illustrious Chief Magistrates, as he has himself left on record, 
" lessons of wisdom fit to be ever remembered;" he yet 
never permitted his affection for bis native State, to out- 
weigh his superior allegiance to that greater Union, whicli 
he saw had alone made, and could alone preserve, us, a 
powerful, prosperous, and happy People. Denouncing, on a 
memorable occasion, the attempt of a single State in 1831, to 
set aside a law of Congress, which signally failed under the 
prompt and resolute measures of President Jackson, he thus 
concluded a letter, which attracted attention, to a leading 
Journal at the seat of Government : — 

(( I write from, and am a Citizen of, Pennsylvania, but am 
more proud to subscribe myself a Citizen of the United 
States/' 









APPENDIX 



CONTAINING 

A EECAPITULATION OF THE QUESTIONS 

ARRANGED BETWEEN 

GKEAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES, 

BY THE NEGOTIATION OF 1818, 
WITH A STATEMENT OF THOSE LEFT UNADJUSTED. 



APPENDIX 



PART I. 

PROGRESS OF THE NEGOTIATION. A CONVENTION CONCLUDED ; 

QUESTIONS ARRANGED BY IT, VIZ. : THAT OF THE FISHERIES 

NORTH-WESTERN BOUNDARY LINE COLUMBIA RIVER AND 

TERRITORY WEST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS COMMERCIAL 

CONVENTION. SLAVES CARRIED OFF CONTRARY TO THE TREATY 

OF GHENT. 

1818. Sept. — Oct. The Plenipotentiaries assembled again 
at Whitehall, according to appointment. 

Having given an account of the first stages of the negotia- 
| tion in the order of dates, it is no longer my design to 
proceed in that way. It has been seen that the subjects 
were multifarious. All demanded attention ; some, copious 
discussions. These, with the documents at large, the pro- 
tocols, the projets and counter-projets, debated and modified 
by the scrutiny of each side, would present a mass of matter 
through which the diplomatist or politician might perhaps 
wade ; but be little attractive to any one else. My endeavour 
will be to present an intelligible history of the negotiation 
by giving results rather than details. The latter are deposited 
| in the archives of the two Governments. I will draw upon 
them to no greater extent than may be necessary to illustrate 
principles upon which the negotiation turned in its success or 
I failure. Some of these principles are important to both 
' nations. To record them with impartiality, is the aim I 
propose to myself. 

Throughout September and October, meetings were as 

constant as was compatible with maturing in a proper manner 

the various subjects. By the 20th of October all appeared 

to have been fully discussed. The points were ascertained 

I on which there could be agreement, as well as those on which 

it was hopeless, in the existing disposition of the two Govern- 

; ments, to continue the negotiation longer. Accordingly, on 

| that day, a convention was signed which comprehended the 

following subjects : 

I. That of the Fisheries. This, although not first in the 



366 APPENDIX. 

order of discussion, came first in the convention. The points 
of misunderstanding had not risen to much height practically ; 
but it is scarcely going too far to say, that they menaced the 
peace of the two countries. They therefore merit special 
notice. 

By the third article of the treaty of September 1783 be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain, the ^people of 
the former had the right to take fish on the Grand Bank, and 
all other banks of Newfoundland; in the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, and all other places in the sea, where the inhabitants 
of both countries had been used to fish before ; and the liberty 
to fish on such part of the coast of Newfoundland as British 
fishermen used, (but not to dry or cure fish there) and on the 
coasts, bays and creeks of all other British dominions in 
America. American fishermen had also the liberty to dry 
and cure fish in any unsettled bays, harbours, and creeks of 
Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador ; but as soon 
as any of them were settled, this liberty was to cease, unless 
continued by agreement with the inhabitants. 

These were rights and liberties of great magnitude to the 
"United States. Besides affording profitable fields of com- 
merce, they fostered a race of seamen, conducive to the 
national riches in peace, as to defence and glory in war. 
After the peace of Ghent, the fishing- vessels of the Union 
proceeded as formerly to fish off the British coasts, and use 
the unsettled shores for curing and drying, according to the 
stipulations of the above treaty. They were immediately 
ordered off by the British naval forces. Some were captured. 
The ground alleged was, that the treaty was no longer in 
existence. The Government of the United States obtained a 
suspension of these apparently hostile orders and proceedings, 
until the two Governments could make efforts for adjusting 
a question of so much moment. 

The British doctrine was, that the treaty of 1783, not 
being re-enacted or confirmed by the treaty of Ghent, was 
annulled by the war of 1812. 

The United States wholly dissented from this doctrine. 
They did not deny the general rule of public law on which 
Britain relied ; that a war puts an end to previous treaties ; 
but they insisted that the rule was not applicable to the 
treaty of 1783. That treaty, was peculiar in its nature and 
objects. It had no analogy to common treaties, and was not 
to be judged by their rules. It was a treaty by which Great 
Britain had acknowledged the Independence of the United 
States after a seven years' contest in arms. It made two 
Empires out of one. It was a treaty of separation. The 



TART I. 367 

rights of each party were laid down as primary and funda- 
mental, in the act of dismemberment which the treaty 
established. So much of territory and incidental rights in 
America were allotted to one, so much to the other. The 
entire instrument implied permanence. Hence, all the fishing 
rights secured under it to the United States, were placed 
by Great Britain upon the same foundation with their inde- 
pendence itself. Was her acknowledgment of the latter 
revoked by the war of 1812 ? or were the boundaries of the 
United States as fixed by the treaty of 1783, annulled by that 
war? So far was this from being the case, that the treaty of 
Ghent, in making provision for ascertaining with further 
accuracy some parts of the boundary line, constantly referred 
to the treaty of 1 783 ; thus manifesting a tacit conviction on 
each side, that this treaty was regarded as the fundamental 
law of the relations between the two countries. By what 
rule then was the war to destroy the treaty in some parts, 
and leave it whole in others ? The use of the word right in 
one place, and liberty in another, could make no difference. 
A liberty of unlimited duration, secured by so elementary 
and solemn a deed, was as much a right as if stipulated by 
any other term. In speaking of rights and liberties in a 
national sense, both terms were alike efficacious. Liberty 
might have seemed the more appropriate term where an 
enjoyment was guaranteed to one party, of a thing adjoining 
territory allotted to the other ; but it took nothing from the 
permanence of the allotment. In point of principle, the 
United States were pre-eminently entitled to all these 
fisheries ; and in point of fact they had enjoyed more of them 
than any other portion of the British Empire, before the 
separation. The people of New England, from their prox- 
imity, had been earlier led to the discovery and im- 
provement of the best fishing-grounds, and had also, with 
other parts of the Union, contributed amply in blood and 
treasure towards winning from France provinces, on the coast 
of which some of the fisheries were situated. Apart from 
the question of right, the claim of the United States had 
high sanctions. These fisheries afforded subsistence to a 
numerous class of their inhabitants. By the usages of 
nations, fishermen were a portion of human society whose 
occupations, contributing to the general welfare of the species, 
were always regarded with favour. Sometimes they were 
even exempt from the effects of war whilst it raged ; as when 
England herself allowed the Dutch to fish upon her coasts at 
such seasons. The foregoiug is a synopsis of some of the 
material argunents by which the claim of the United States 



3G8 APPENDIX. 

was defended. Whatever could shed light upon it, had been 
urged by Mr. Adams when in the English mission, with an 
ability and fulness that left little to be said after him. 

The claim was resisted by Great Britain in a manner to 
give proof of her equal sincerity in opposite doctrine. She 
denied that the treaty of 1 783 had anything in its nature to 
exempt it from abrogation by a war. She knew of no ex- 
ception to this rule of international law ; and could not 
consent to give to her diplomatic relations with one State, a 
different degree of permanence from that on which her con- 
nexion with all other States depended. She did not admit 
that this treaty was to be regarded as in force because the 
treaty of Ghent had referred to it on the subject of boundaries. 
One object of the latter treaty was, the mutual restoration of 
territory taken by either party from the other during the war. 
As a necessary consequence of such a stipulation, each party 
reverted to their boundaries as before the war ; and the treaty 
of 1783 having fixed these, the treaty of Ghent had referred 
to them as facts, nothing more. She contended that it was 
not unusual for treaties containing recognitions and acknow- 
ledgments of perpetual obligation, to contain likewise 
grants of privileges liable to be revoked. The treaty of 1783 
contained provisions of different characters; some in per- 
petuity, others, from their nature, temporary. If it were 
inferred that because some of the advantages specified, would 
not terminate by a war, therefore all were designed to be 
permanent, it ought first to be shown that the advantages 
themselves were the same, or of similar character. But what 
necessary connexion was there between a right to national 
independence, and a liberty to fish within British jurisdiction, 
or use British territory? Liberties within British limits 
were as capable of being exercised by a dependent, as an 
independent State ; they could not, therefore, be the neces- 
sary consequence of independence. The independence of a 
nation was that which could not be correctly said to be 
granted by a treaty, but to be acknowledged by one. In the 
treaty of 1783, the independence of the United States was 
acknowledged by Great Britain, as it had already been by 
the powers of Europe ; and by Britain herself, in her previous 
consent in November 1782 to enter into provisional articles. 
Their independence might have been acknowledged without 
either the treaty or provisional articles; but by whatever 
mode acknowledged, the acknowledgment was, in its nature, 
irrevocable. A power of revoking or even modifying it, 
would be destructive of the thing itself, and was therefore 
necessarily renounced when the acknowledgment was made. 



PART I. 3G9 

She urged as corroborative of her reasoning, notwithstanding 
the explanations suggested by the American Plenipotentiaries, 
the use of the word right when the United States were to 
take fish on the banks, and other places from which Great 
Britain could not pretend to exclude any independent nation, 
and liberty when they were to cure and dry within British 
territory. The latter was also made to depend on agreements 
with the proprietors of the soil, whenever the territory might 
become settled. As to the origin of the fishing-privileges in 
point of fact, she admitted that whilst the United States 
made part of the British dominions, their inhabitants had 
the enjoyment of them in common with other British sub- 
jects; but they had at the same time, like British subjects 
everywhere, duties to perform. "When therefore the United 
States, by their separation from Great Britain, became re- 
leased from the duties, they became excluded also from the 
privileges of British subjects. The above is a summary of 
the reasoning in its chief parts against our claim. It was 
embodied in a paper by Lord Bathurst in October 1815, 
prepared with the force and zeal that the subject demanded. 
The views of each party on the question, had not been left 
out of sight in negotiating the treaty of Ghent. 

To the distinction so much insisted on by Great Britain 
between liberty and right it was replied for the United States, 
that the former, if construed to imply limitation of time or 
precariousness of tenure, would defeat the whole meaning of 
the article as gathered from the context. The restriction 
itself at the close of the article, stamped permanence upon it. 
The intention was, that the people of the United States should 
continue to enjoy all the benefit they had formerly enjoyed 
from the fisheries, with the exception of drying and curing on 
the shores of Newfoundland ; but when other shores on which 
they were to have this liberty, became settled, then its exer- 
cise was to be conciliated with the proprietary rights of the 
owners of the freehold. This was precisely the restriction to 
which British fishermen would be liable. Whence it followed 
that the argument against permanence on account of the 
word liberty being used, if applicable to the inhabitants of 
the United States, would also be applicable to the subjects of 
Britain. The principles of municipal law in England, which 
| were the same in the United States, corroborated the inter- 
pretation for which the latter contended. By these, the 
property of a fishery was not necessarily in the owner of the 
I! soil. The right to the soil might be exclusive; the fishery 
I i free, or in common. Thus, whilst in this partition of the 

I national possessions in America, the jurisdiction over the 



370 APPENDIX. 

shores where the fisheries were situated was reserved to 
Great Britain, the fisheries themselves and accommodations 
essential to their prosecution and enjoyment, were, by the 
mutual compact, agreed to be in common. How different the 
course in the treaty of Utrecht on a similar point. By the 
twelfth article of that treaty, Nova Scotia was ceded to 
Britain ; yet the subjects of France were expressly excluded 
from fishing within thirty leagues of the coast. This pro- 
hibition was renewed in the fifth article of the treaty of Paris 
of 1763. By the eighteenth article of the same treaty, the 
subjects of Spain were excluded from all fishing-rights in the 
neighbourhood of Newfoundland. The treaty of 1/83 was 
therefore, it was again insisted, altogether unlike common 
treaties. It contemplated a permanent division of co-equal 
rights, not a transient grant of mere privileges. The acknow- 
ledgment of independence, the establishment of boundaries, 
and the guarantee of the fisheries, each rested upon the same 
immutable footing. 

Neither side yielded its convictions to the reasoning of the 
other. This being exhausted, there was no resource left with 
nations disposed to peace, but a compromise. Great Britain 
grew willing to give up something. The United States con- 
sented to take less than the whole. After various proposals 
by the former which the latter rejected as inadequate, we at 
length, as their Plenipotentiaries, acceded to the following : 
viz. 

That the United States should have, for ever, in common 
with British subjects, the liberty to fish on the southern coast 
of Newfoundland from Cape Ray to the Rameau Islands ; 
and from that cape to the Quirpon Islands on thewestern and 
northern coasts; and on the shores of the Magdalen Islands; 
and on the coasts, bays, harbours, and creeks from Mount 
Joly, on the southern coast of Labrador, through the Straits 
of Belleisle, and thence indefinitely along the coast, north- 
wardly ; but without prejudice to any exclusive rights of the 
Hudson's Bay Company. Also the liberty, for ever, to dry 
and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours, and 
creeks of the southern coast of Newfoundland, as above de- 
scribed; and of the coast of Labrador ; subject, after settle- 
ment, to agreement with the proprietors of the soil. In 
consequence of the above stipulations, the United States re- 
nounced for ever the liberty of fishing within three miles of 
any other part of the British coasts in America, or of curing 
or drying on them. But American fishermen were to be 
permitted to enter bays or harbours on the prohibited coasts 
for shelter, repairing damages, and obtaining wood and water, 
subject to restrictions necessary to prevent abuses. 



PART I. 371 

Such was the article finally agreed upon. The most 
difficult part of our task, was on the question of permanence. 
Britain would not consent to an express clause that a future 
war was not to abrogate the rights secured to us. We inserted 
the words for ever, and drew up a paper to be of record in the 
negotiation, purporting that if the convention should from 
any cause be vacated, all anterior rights were to revive. The 
insertion of any words of perpetuity, was strenuously resisted 
by the British plenipotentiaries. They said that in case of 
war, the only effect of their omission would be, the necessity 
of providing in the treaty of peace, for the renewal of the 
right. "We replied, that we could agree to no article on the 
subject, unless the words for ever were retained ; or if any 
counter record was made on the protocol impairing its 
effect. 

It was by our act that the United States renounced the 
right to the fisheries not guaranteed to them by the conven- 
tion. That clause did not find a place in the British counter 
projet. AYe deemed it proper under a threefold view ; 1, to 
exclude the implication of the fisheries secured to us being a 
new grant ; 2, to place the rights secured and renounced, on 
the same footing of permanence ; 3, that it might expressly 
appear, that our renunciation was limited to three miles from 
the coasts. This last point we deemed of the more conse- 
quence from our fishermen having assured us, that the whole 
fishing-ground on the coast of Nova Scotia extended to a 
greater distance than three miles from land ; whereas along 
the coast of Labrador it was almost universally close in with 
the shore. To the saving of the exclusive rights of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, we did not object. The charter of 
that Company had been granted in 1670, and the people of the 
United States had never enjoyed rights in that bay that could 
trench upon those of the Company. Finally, it is to be re- 
marked, that the liberty of drying and curing on certain parts 
of the coast of Newfoundland, as secured in the article, had 
not been allotted to the United States even under the old 
treaty of 1783. 

When the convention was made public, it underwent 
criticism in Britain as too favourable, throughout, to the 
United States. But this article on the fisheries was assailed 
with peculiar force. The leading presses of London opened 
upon it. The claims of the United States were described as 
of alarming magnitude ; the concessions, as of a character 
corresponding. Important maritime interests of the British 
empire were said to have been sacrificed. Complaints poured 
in from the colonies. The legislative assembly and council of 

2 b 2 



372 APPENDIX, 



: 



Nova Scotia sent forward remonstrances, with which were 
mixed up, not unsparingly, denunciations of American 
ambition and encroachment. The tide of complaint was 
swelled by the recollection of similar alleged sacrifices under 
the treaty of Paris of 1814. Britain by that treaty, said 
the journals, had given back, and this when she was at the 
height of influence and power, to France, her great European 
rival, the enjoyment of the Newfoundland fisheries, from 
which twenty years of victorious warfare upon the ocean had 
totally driven her ; and now the calamity was to be doubled, 
by a like gift to her rival in the other hemisphere ! 

British statesmen, more calm, thought and acted otherwise. 
They had not been deterred by the anticipation of clamour 
from entering into the article. They felt that, if they had a 
duty to fulfil by guarding British interests, they were not 
released from the obligation of looking to the just rights of 
an independent nation. It was in this spirit that a formidable 
cause of collision was removed, without impairing the honour, 
or, as is believed, the essential interests of either country.* 

II. The second article related to the Boundary line, prom 
the Lake of the Woods. This line had been originally laid 
down in the treaty of 1J83. It proved defective, and further 
provision was made for running it, in the treaty of 17^4. 
Several attempts for effecting this provision came to nothing. 
The cession of Louisiana by France in 1803, gave to the 
United States new and extensive territory west of the 
Mississippi. This altered the relative position of Great 
Britain and the United States in this quarter, and the hither- 
to unsettled boundary was now arranged. It was provided, 
that a line drawn from the north-western point of the Lake 
of the Woods along the forty-ninth degree of latitude, due 
west, should be the line of demarcation, forming the southern 
boundary of the British territories and the northern boundary 
of the United States, from the Lake of the Woods to the 
Bocky Mountains. In case such aline would not run along 
the forty -ninth degree, but fall above or below it, then the 
line was to be traced by first drawing one from the same 

* In the posthumous work entitled " Occasional Productions Politi- 
cal, Diplomatic and Miscellaneous," by the same Author, published 
by his Executors in Philadelphia, 1860, the construction placed by the 
American negotiators of the Convention of 1818, upon this article in 
relation to the Newfoundland Fisheries, is fully set forth in a letter 
from the Author to the Secretary of State of the United States, (then 
Mr, Marcy) dated " Sydenham, July 1853," preceded by an explanatory 
Letter on the subject from the Author to his Executors. The article 
itself, in relation to the Fisheries, is also inserted, p. 297 of that Work. 



PART I. O/ii 

point, north or south as the case might be, until it struck 
forty-nine ; from which point of intersection the western line 
was to begin. Thus it was definitively settled. 

An attempt was made by the British plenipotentiaries to 
connect with this article, a clause securing to Great Britain 
access to the Mississippi, and right to its navigation. They 
made a similar claim at Ghent, but withdrew it. We said 
that we could consent to no clause of that nature. Its omis- 
sion having, in the end, been agreed to, that subject was also 
put at rest. Britain, under the treaty of 1783, had the right 
of navigating the Mississippi. It was then the western 
boundary of the United States. Their northern boundary, 
by the same treaty, was to have been a line running due 
west from the most north-western point of the Lake of the 
Woods to the Mississippi. It was afterwards ascertained 
that a line so drawn, would not strike the Mississippi; its 
head waters not being within British limits as first supposed. 
Hence all reason for Britain to claim the right of navigating 
a river which touched no part of her dominions, ceased. The 
United States have claimed in a subsequent negotiation, the 
right of navigating the St. Lawrence, from its sources to its 
mouth. The essential difference in the two cases, is, that the 
upper waters of the St. Lawrence flow through territory 
belonging to both countries, and form a natural outlet to 
the ocean for the inhabitants of several states of the American 
Union. 

III. The third article effected a temporary arrangement 
of Clatms beyond the Rocky Mountains and to Columbia 
Biver. I have related what passed relative to the settlement 
at the mouth of this river, in my interview with Lord 
Castlereagh in February. That settlement, called Astoria, 
made by Americans, was broken up by the British during the 
war, but fell back to the United States by the treaty of Ghent, 
on the principle of status ante helium. The British pleni- 
potentiaries manifested a strong desire to connect this subject 
with that of the boundary line. They appeared unwilling, 
except under such a connexion, to agree to the line in any 
shape. We proposed its extension to the Pacific Ocean. 
The treaty of Utrecht had fixed the forty-ninth degree of 
latitude as the line between the possessions of Britain, and 
France, including Louisiana since ceded to the United States. 
If, therefore, the United States and Britain arranged their 
claims westward, the same line, carried on to the Pacific, 
seemed the natural one. We contended that, as far as prior 
discovery could give the right to territory, ours was complete 
to the whole, on the waters of the Columbia. It derived its 



374 APPENDIX. 

name from the American ship that first entered its mouth. 
It was first explored from its inland sources under the express 
authority of the Government of the United States. The 
British traveller, Maekensie, had mistaken another river for 
a branch of the Columbia ; t the American travellers,, Lewis 
and Clarke, as was now fully ascertained, having been the 
first to trace the Columbia from the interior to the ocean. 
Astoria had, as incontestably, been the first permanent set- 
tlement at its mouth. 

The British plenipotentiaries asserted that earlier voyages 
of English navigators, amongst them Cook's, gave to Britain 
the rights of prior discovery on this coast. They spoke also 
of purchases of territory from the natives south of this river 
before the American revolution. They made no formal pro- 
posal of a boundary in these regions, but intimated that the 
river itself was the most convenient, and said they could 
agree to none that did not give them the harbour as its mouth 
in common with the United States. To this we could not 
assent, but were willing to leave things west of the mountains, 
at large for future settlement. To this they objected, and 
made in turn propositions objectionable in our eyes. Finally 
it was agreed, that the country on the north-west coast of 
America westward of the Rocky Mountains, claimed by either 
nation, should be open to the inhabitants of both, for ten 
years, for purposes of trade ; with the equal right of navigating 
all its rivers. 

This whole subject was discussed more fully by both nations 
in a separate negotiation that it fell to my lot to conduct on 
behalf of the United States, in 1824. Their rights on the 
north-west coast had been materially enlarged by the treaty 
of the 22nd of February 1819 with Spain. By that treaty 
the Floridas were transferred to the United States, and a 
surrender made to them of all the rights of Spain on that 
coast, above the forty-second degree of north latitude. 

Under this branch of the discussion, might be seen power 
seeking its own augmentation. How strong the case for this 
reflection ! A nation whose dominions in Europe, established 
her in the front rank of power ; whose fleets predominated on 
the ocean ; who had subjects in Asia too numerous to be 
counted ; whose flag was planted at the Cape of Good Hope 
and other posts in Africa : who had Gibraltar and Malta, and 
Heligoland, enabling her to watch the Mediterranean and 
Baltic ; who had an empire in the West Indies as the East ; 
and, added to all, vast continental colonies in America — this 
nation was anxiously contending for territorial rights in deep 
forests beyond the Bocky Mountains^ and on the solitary 



PART 1. 375 

shores of the northern Pacific ! In the time of Queen Mary, 
when the communication with Muscovy was first opened by 
the discovery of a passage to Archangel, the English ventured 
farther into those countries than any Europeans had done 
before. They transported their goods along the Dwina in 
boats made of one entire tree, which they towed up the stream 
to Wologda. Thence they carried their commodities a long 
journey over-land, and down the Volga to Astracan. Here 
they built ships, crossed the Caspian sea, and introduced their 
manufactures into Persia. It makes a parallel passage in their 
history, to see them at the present day pressing forward to 
supply with rifles and blankets savage hordes who roam 
through the woods, aud paddle their canoes over the waters 
of this farthest and wildest portion of the American con- 
tinent. 

IV. The fourth article prolonged for ten years the existing 
Commercial Convention. By its provisions a reciprocal'liberty 
of commerce is established between the United States and the 
British dominions in Europe. Importations and exportations 
into or from either nation, are to be the same as permitted to 
other nations, and chargeable with no higher duties. The 
vessels of each nation, pay equal tonnage duties in each other's 
ports ; and duties upon merchandize imported into, or exported 
from, either, are the same, whether conveyed in vessels of the 
one nation, or the other. Other clauses give to vessels of the 
United States the right of trading with the principal British 
settlements in the East Indies, viz. Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, 
and Prince of Wales's Island ; but it is only the direct trade 
between these settlements and the United States, that is 
opened. The vessels of the United States pursuing this trade, 
or going to China, may also touch for refreshment at the Cape 
of Good Hope, St. Helena, or other possessions of Great 
Britain in the African or Indian seas. These are the prin- 
cipal enactments of this Commercial Convention. It was 
originally negotiated in the summer of 1815, by three of the 
public men of the United States long signalized in the home 
and foreign service, Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay, Mr, Gallatin. 
Between the time of its signature in London, and exchange of 
ratifications at Washington, an event occurred to modify one 
of its provisions. It was determined by the Allied Powers, 
that Napoleon, whose reign and dynasty closed at Waterloo, 
should end his days at St. Helena. As a consequence, the 
ratifications were exchanged with an exception of the right of 
touching there, the sentence against the deposed Emperor 
containing a clause that neither British nor any other vessels 
should stop at that island, whilst his prison. 



376 APPENDIX. 

The parts of this Convention which establish an equality o? 
duties, are liberal and wise. That the interest of Nations 
is best promoted by discarding jealousies, is a truth which, 
in the abstract, few will question. But they should be 
discarded reciprocally, without any of the reservations for 
which favourite interests will always plead. Whether such 
reciprocity will ever be found compatible with the separate 
existence of communities, and all their separate rivalries, is 
the problem. The doctrine hitherto has been known but 
little in the practice of the world. The United States, as one 
of the family of nations, did their part, at the commencement 
of their history, towards giving it currency; not always how- 
ever with the success that attended this convention. Its pro- 
visions seemed to serve as a model. Within short periods 
after it went into operation, Denmark, Prussia, the Nether- 
lands, Hanover, Sweden, and the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg, 
Lubec, and Bremen, formed treaties with Britain, adopting 
wholly, or in part, its regulations. In some of the instances, 
I have reason to know that it was specially consulted as the 
guide. France too, always slow to enter into compacts of 
this nature with Britain, at last consented to a similar 
arrangement. Such appears to have been the influence of 
its example. The United States, have long desired to place 
their intercourse with the colonies of Britain, on the basis 
which this Convention establishes with her dominions in 
Europe ; but as yet ineffectually. 

V. The fifth article related to the Slaves. I stated in the 
last chapter, the nature of this question. All attempts to 
settle it by discussion proved fruitless. It was no question 
of international law, but of sheer grammar. In the end, we 
came to an agreement which this article embodied, to refer it 
to the umpirage of a friendly sovereign. 

The Emperor Alexander was chosen. It will be proper to 
state the issue. The case was submitted to him in full form. 
His decision was : — 

That the United States were entitled to claim from Great 
Britain a just indemnification for all slaves that the British 
forces had carried away from places and territories of which 
the treaty stipulated the restitution ; and that the United 
States were entitled to consider as having been so carried 
away, all slaves who had been transported from the above- 
mentioned territories to British ships within their waters, and 
who for that reason might not have been restored. 

This was the construction for which the United States had 
contended. The Emperor caused it to be officially made 
known, that he had devoted " all his attention to the exami- 



PART I. o7( 

nation of the grammatical question/' and that Lis decision 
was founded " on the signification of the words in the text of 
the article" 

The broad principle of right under the treaty of Ghent, 
"was thus settled in our favour j but much remained to be done. 
The number of slaves carried away, their value, and the right- 
ful claimants in every case, were to be ascertained. To effect 
these objects a convention was entered into at St. Petersburgh 
between the United States and Great Britain, Russia lending 
her mediation. By this instrument various provisions were 
adopted for settling, through commissioners and other fit tribu- 
nals, the above and all other matters necessary to be adjudged. 
The tribunals were organized at Washington, and proceeded 
to the execution of their duties. Difficulties and delays arose. 
To get rid of all, another convention was concluded at London 
between the United States and Great Britain, by which the 
latter agreed to pay twelve hundred thousand dollars in lieu 
of all further demands. This sum was accordingly paid into 
the Treasury of the United States, thence to be distributed 
among the claimants ; Great Britain being absolved from all 
further responsibility. In this manner the dispute was finally 
and satisfactorily closed. 

VI. The sixth and last article was merely one of form, 
with the usual stipulations for the exchange of ratifications. 

Looking at the Convention as a whole, it must be judged 
bv the nature, rather than number, of its articles. In settling 
the controversy about the Fisheries, the calamity of a war was 
probably warded off. In fixing a Boundary line long uncertain, 
the seed of future disputes was extinguished at that point. 
In the temporary arrangement of conflicting claims beyond 
the Rocky Mountains, something was gained. In regard to 
these interests in the remote west, time is, for the United 
States, the best negotiator. They are not unaware how they 
bear upon their fur trade ; their fisheries and commerce in 
the Pacific; their prospective relation with new foreign states 
in this hemisphere ; and their intercourse with numerous tribes 
of the aborigines. In the renewal for ten years of the Com- 
mercial Convention, limited at first to four, a further and 
more encouraging example was set of liberal terms of navi- 
gation between the two greatest navigating Powers of the 
world. It may be hoped that it will ripen into permanence 
as between themselves, and continue to shed its influence 
more and more upon other states. Already it has been pro- 
longed for another term of years. Lastly, in the article 
about the Slaves, a foundation was laid for the indemnification 
awarded to the citizens of our southern states for heavy losses 
thev had suffered. 



378 APPENDIX 



PART II. 

SUBJECTS WHICH THE NEGOTIATION LEFT UNADJUSTED, PARTI- 
CULARLY THE WEST INDIA TRADE AND IMPRESSMENT. 

1818. Having giving the subjects which the negotiation 
arranged, the task, scarcely secondary, remains to state those 
that were not. 

I. First, as to the West India trade. Ample dis- 
cussions were had on this head. I will endeavour to make it 
intelligible within as short a compass as its nature will allow. 
The general question must be borne in mind as explained in 
the fourth chapter of this work. Details will be pursued no 
farther than is indispensable. 

It was a cardinal purpose under our instructions, that 
entire reciprocity should be the basis of any regulations by 
treaty, for opening this trade. We offered the following 
proposals as essential to the groundwork of our plan: — That 
the vessels of the United States be permitted to import into 
the principal ports of the British West Indies, which we 
enumerated, and into British ports on the continent of South 
America, naval stores, live stock, provisions of all kinds, 
tobacco, lumber, and other productions of the United States, 
the importation of which was allowed from other places. And 
also that they be permitted to bring back cargoes of sugar, 
coffee, molasses, rum, salt, and other productions of the 
foregoing ports or islands, the exportation of which was 
allowed to other places. The vessels of Great Britain to be 
confined to the same articles of trade, so that they might 
have no advantage over those of the United States. The 
tonnage duties on the vessels of each nation, to be the same ; 
and each to be allowed to touch during the voyage, at one or 
more ports of the other, to dispose of inward, or ship outward, 
cargoes. Duties of import and export to be the same on all 
cargoes, whether carried in American or British vessels, and 
neither party to charge higher duties upon the productions 
of the other, than were charged on similar productions in 
their trade with other places. Regarding the colonies of 
Britain in North America, we proposed that both American 
and British vessels be allowed to import into them from the 
United States, the same productions as allowed above, and 
bring back any productions of those colonies admitted into 
the United States from other places. Tonnage duties upon 
the vessels of each nation, to be equal here also ; and the 
duties on all cargoes to be the same, whether carried in the 
vessels of the one nation or the other. 



PART II. 3 



■9 



The British plenipotentiaries, on receiving these proposals, 
declared them to be inadmissible. They amounted, they 
said, to a much greater departure from the colonial system 
of Britain, than she was prepared to sanction. They alleged 
the impossibility of breaking down the system, favoured as 
it still was by public opinion, and leagued in with various 
interests, national and individual. The trade of their North 
American colonies in salted fish and lumber, the export trade 
in beef, pork, and flour, from Ireland, the British shipping 
interest, and the interests of non-resident West India plan- 
ters, were among those to which they referred. They were 
willing to admit reciprocity in the trade between the United 
States and West Indies, to a certain extent; as far, indeed, 
as the trade was opened. But our plan opened it too far. 
They were willing to open, for example, all the ports we had 
enumerated, (Bermuda being of the number,) except St. 
Christopher's, St. Lucia, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice ; 
the exception of the three last growing out of their engage- 
ments with Holland. But if they admitted a specified 
number of articles in the direct trade with the Islands, 
they thought that we ought to consent to a larger list in the 
trade with Halifax and St. John's on the North American 
continent j and also with Bermuda. We ought not to ask 
that the trade be confined to the same articles with all their 
possessions, insular and continental. They claimed also a 
right for their vessels coming from Great Britain, to touch 
at any port of the United States and take cargoes for the 
West Indies; alleging that, without this right, the proximity 
of the United States to the Islands would give our vessels an 
advantage. They would agree to a provision that our vessels 
should have the same right; a provision, however, the re- 
ciprocity of which would have only been nominal. In the 
end they remarked, that one of our proposals went the length 
of restraining Great Britain from laying higher duties upon 
articles imported into her Islands from the United States, 
than on similar articles coming from her own possessions in 
North America. To this they decidedly objected. They 
spoke of the natural right of Great Britain to resort to dis- 
criminating duties for the purpose of favouring the produc- 
tions, agricultural or otherwise, of any part of her own 
dominions. 

We did not pretend to deny this last principle; but re- 
marked, that truth in abstract propositions did not always 
bear enforcement internationally. We contended that the 
application of this principle to the trade in question, would 
prove altogether unjust to the United States. Britain made 



380 APPENDIX. 

a distinction, which of course she had the right to do, in her 
commercial intercourse between her home dominions and 
colonies. She even drew a distinction in the regulations of 
trade between her North American colonies, and West India 
Islands. The United States were therefore, in a commercial 
view, obliged to consider each of these portions of her empire, 
as so many distinct countries. To the United States, they 
were distinct, as well by geographical situation, and nature 
of their productions, as by this policy of the parent country. 
This was not mere theory. In the business of trade, it led 
to positive results. The United States made an offer to lay 
no higher duties on productions imported into their ports 
from British Islands, than on similar productions from other 
foreign countries. Britain met this by apparent, but owing 
to the division of her dependencies into separate countries for 
commercial purposes, not real justice. She offered to lay no 
higher duties on productions imported from the United States 
into her Islands, than were charged on similar ones from 
other foreign countries. The offer would be reciprocal in 
words only, unless it went farther ; it ought to add, upon 
similar productions from any other place. The reason was 
obvious. The British Islands were supplied with similar 
productions from no other foreign country than the United 
States. The only similar ones, in amount deserving to be 
mentioned, would go from the North American colonies of 
Britain. The only competition in the supply would therefore 
be, between these latter colonies and the United States ; 
whereas, there would be a real foreign competition on the 
productions imported into the United States from the British 
Islands ; similar ones being imported from the Islands or 
colonies of other foreign powers. Hence the clause would be 
operative for Great Britain, and nominal for the United 
States. It was plain that the former could turn it to her 
own account. Her vessels might come to the United States 
°rom her Islands, with the productions of the Islands; whilst 
the vessels of the United States would find little encourage- 
ment in going to the Islands with the productions of the 
United States, because the same kind would get there in 
British vessels from Halifax, St. John's, or Bermuda, under 
duties sufficiently low to vanquish American competition. 
Such was our answer to this objection. At first sight the 
objection wore a fair appearance. It seemed unreasonable 
to say that Britain must not be left at liberty to foster, by 
high duties, as she saw fit, the productions of any part of her 
own dominions. But unless the United States took this 



PART II, 381 

ground, they could secure no substantial reciprocity to their 
own vessels in carrying on the trade to be arranged. 

We alleged also the inexpediency of consenting to a limited 
number of articles as the objects of a direct trade between 
our ports and the Islands, and allowing an indefinite or even 
larger list to go circuitously. The effect of this would in 
like manner be, what the United States aimed at prevent- 
ing — a disproportionate employment of British tonnage. 
The articles not allowed to go to the Islands directly, would 
be sent through Halifax, St. John's, or Bermuda. To these 
ports, it is true, they might go in American vessels ; but, 
arrived there, they would be transferred to British vessels, 
and carried to the Isands exclusively in the latter. It was a 
main point with the United States to guard their shipping 
from this source of danger. 

It was so that we reasoned. Nevertheless, it was our duty 
to pay a just regard to the considerations which Great Bri- 
tain had presented. We expressed a desire to listen to any 
specific proposals she would make. We asked for a scale of 
duties that would exhibit the maximum of those intended 
for the protection of the produce of her own dominions ; but 
no such document was prepared for our consideration. In 
further reply to this British doctrine about duties, we natur- 
ally remarked, that, if enforced against the United States, 
the latter ought certainly to retain the option of laying 
higher duties on the productions of the British Islands, than 
on those of countries where their productions were, or might 
be, received on better terms than in her Islands. We also 
declared that we could agree to no proposals for regulating 
the intercourse with Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, un- 
connected with the Islands. 

After these and other particulars had been fully canvassed, 
it became evident that the parties were too wide asunder to 
give hope of meeting on ground that would satisfy both. 
The British plenipotentiaries candidly expressed themselves to 
this effect. But as we invited proposals, they gave them. 
Their proposals adhered to the principle of protecting the 
productions of their North American colonies, by levying 
higher duties on similar productions from the United States. 
They also claimed the right for British vessels from her 
European dominions, to touch at ports of the United States 
to take in cargoes for the West Indies. In other respects, as 
these nominally, they admitted the principle of reciprocity, as 
far as the trade was to be open. But they restricted it in a 
way to be little acceptable to the United States. Neither 
sugar, nor coffee, was allowed to be among the direct exports 
to the United States from the Islands, although we would have 



382 APPENDIX. 

consented to a limited amount of each. Nor were salted 
provisions of any kind, including fish, nor lumber generally, 
for under the last head there were slight exceptions, to be 
allowed among the imports into the Islands from the United 
States. Yet it was proposed, that not only sugar and coffee, 
but all articles of the produce or manufacture of any of the 
British dominions, and even East India articles, should be 
admitted into the United States through the circuitous 
channels of Bermuda, Halifax, and St. John's. It was also 
asked, that, in the whole trade, Britain, by all the regulations 
of the United States, should stand upon as good a footing in 
their ports, as any other foreign nation. Such were the 
principal features of their proposals. 

Brit rin would agree to no arrangement of the intercourse 
by land, or inland navigation, with her possessions bordering 
on the United States, different from the one rejected with 
the four articles submitted by Lord Castlereagh. Nor would 
she let us take our produce down the St. Lawrence as far as 
Montreal, or down the Chambly as far as the St. Lawrence. 

On referring her proposals to our Government with all the 
views elicited from her Plenipotentiaries, they were rejected. 
In progress of time renewed negotiations were held between 
the two Governments, some whilst I remained at the British 
Court, some afterwards. Each Government gave up some of 
the ground taken in this negotiation ; but no arrangement 
by treaty has ever yet been made upon the subject. The 
trade stands upon regulations adopted by the statutes of each 
nation, which each is at liberty to modify or recall. Until 
opened by these regulations, the prohibitory laws of the 
Union would not allow supplies from the British West Indies 
to come directly to the United States, or go directly from the 
United States to the Islands, in the vessels of either Power. 
The reason was, that as Britain would not allow them to 
come and go in this direct manner on terms that the United 
States deemed of equal advantage to their vessels, they pre- 
ferred that the direct intercourse should cease altogether. It 
is obvious that the dispute was about tonnage, not the pro- 
ductions or merchandize of either party. These were still 
permitted to be consumed in the territories of each ; but it 
was necessary to import them in roundabout ways into each. 
On a Spanish ambassador representing to Cromwell that the 
Inquisition, and Colonial Trade, were his master's two eyes, 
Cromwell replied, " Then I must trouble your master to put 
out his two eyes." We cannot address England in that style ; 
but we may remark, that to whatever extent she enforces her 
colonial system in her intercourse with other nations, the 



PART II. 883 

latter will, so far, lose the advantage of full and equal com- 
petition as respects their tonnage. 

II. I come, secondly, to Impressment. Faithful as were 
our labours on this subject, disappointment was their portion. 
A recapitulation of the causes has claims to the attention of 
both nations 

It will be remembered that I delivered to Lord Castlereagh 
two propositions, which, taken together, embodied an offer by 
the United States to exclude, by all the means in their power, 
British seamen, native born, as naturalized, from their service. 
As an equivalent, they demanded that impressment from 
their vessels should be totally relinquished. The stipulation 
for excluding seamen, was to be reciprocal. The United 
States agreeing not to employ British seamen, it was no more 
than just that Britain should agree not to employ American 
seamen. The exclusion was to extend to the public and 
private marine of both nations. 

It cannot escape remark, that the United States, by such 
an offer, overlooked the estimate of pecuniary advantage to 
their merchants, for the prospect of durable harmony with 
Qreat Britain. Wages were higher in their merchant-service, 
thxn the British. To exclude British seamen from it, would 
be likely to raise them still higher. On the other hand, the 
stipulation of Britain would have been remote in its practical 
operation. It was necessarily contingent upon the event of 
a maritime war with other powers, as she does not impress 
from American vessels in time of peace. Hence, the onerous 
part of the engagement would have been to us, immediate ; the 
benefit, distant. 

Our offer of exclusion, it will also be remembered, was at 
first rejected. It was afterwards agreed that it should be 
considered. Two conditions were annexed to it by Lord 
Castlereagh. One, that any treaty containing the mutual 
stipulations, should be revocable on short notice by either 
party. This would serve, he thought, to pacify persons in 
England who would otherwise be disposed to think the 
arrangement derogatory to the rights of England ; whilst the 
treaty, as he hoped, would be sliding into permanence. The 
other condition was, that the British boarding-officer entering 
American vessels at sea for purposes agreed to be lawful in 
time of war, and finding British seamen, or men suspected to 
be such, should be allowed to make aproces verbal oi the fact, 
to be presented to the notice of the American Government ; 
but the officer to be prohibited taking away the men. 

This latter condition seemed to imply distrust of America. 
It breathed suspicion, that the regulations for excluding 



oS4 APPENDIX. 

British seamen, would not be fully executed. If objectionable 
on this ground, it was more so on others. It did not ask, in 
terms, that the boarding-officer calling for a list of the crew, 
should have the power of mustering them ; but the mere view 
of the paper would be useless without that power. The men 
must have been inspected for the purpose of comparison with 
the list. Such inspections had been found among the most in- 
supportable aggravations of impressment. Their tendency, in 
every instance, was to produce altercation between the foreign 
officer and the master of the American vessel. If the officer 
made a record of his suspicions, the master, and seaman, must 
have the privilege of making a counter record. Where then 
would be the end, or what the good, of these tribunals of the 
deck? Y\ T e did not desire the first condition., but were willing 
to come into it. To the second, we declared our utter re- 
pugnance and unequivocal dissent. It will be farther remem- 
bered, that Lord Castlereagh withdrew the second ; which 
brings me to the footing on which the subject was taken up 
in the negotiation. 

Repeated advances having been made by the United States, 
the understanding was, that Britain should now bring the 
subject forward in a shape matured for discussion. The 
leading principles seemed to have been settled. It remained, 
as we thought, only to settle details. At the third conference, 
the British plenipotentiaries submitted a projet of six articles 
designed for the regulation, by a separate treaty, of the whole 
subject, I have abstained almost wholly from presenting 
documents of the negotiation at large, supposing that I could 
cause their essential matter to be sufficiently understood by 
description. But the interest attaching to this question, 
renders it proper to set forth the British projet in its precise 
terms; a course the more proper as I inserted in the same 
way the American propositions. It here follows : — 

" His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, and the President of the United States 
of America, being animated with an equal desire to remove, 
by amicable regulations, the inconveniences which have 
arisen from the difficulty of discriminating between the sub- 
jects and citizens of the two powers respectively, have deter- 
mined to proceed, without prejudice to the rights of either 
power, to frame such conventional arrangements as may 
obviate the evils which might hereafter again result from the 
circumstances above stated, to the public service, the com- 
merce, or the subjects or citizens of either of the contracting 
parties. In pusuance of so desirable an object, his said 
Majesty and the President of the United States have nomi- 



part ir. 385 

nated Plenipotentiaries to discuss and sign a treaty to this 
effect. His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland, has nominated the Right Hon- 
ourable Frederick John Robinson, and Henry Goulburn, 
Esquire, and the President of the United States has nominated 
Albert Gallatin and Richard Rush, Esquires, who, having 
exchanged their full powers, found in good and true form, 
have agreed upon the following articles. 

" 1. The high contracting parties engage and bind them- 
selves to adopt without delay, and in the manner that may 
best correspond with their respective laws, such measures as 
may be most effectual for excluding the natural-born subjects 
and citizens of either party from serving in the public or 
private marine of the other : Provided always, that nothing 
contained in this article shall be understood to apply to such 
natural-born subjects or citizens of either power as may have 
been naturalized by their respective laws, previous to the 
signature of the present treaty, And such measures, when 
adopted, shall be immediately communicated to each party 
respectively. 

i( 2. For the better ascertaining the number of persons on 
either side that may fall within the exception contained in 
the preceding article, the high contracting parties, engage to 
deliver, each to the other, within twelve months from the rati- 
fication of the present treaty, a list of all persons falling 
within the said exception, specifying the places of their birth, 
with the date of their becoming naturalized. And it is 
further agreed, that none other than the persons whose 
names shall be included in the lists, shall be deemed to fall 
within the said exception. 

"3. The high contracting parties, however, reserve to 
themselves the power to authorize and permit, by proclama- 
tion, their respective subjects or citizens, to serve in the 
! public or private marine of the other country. And it is 
I hereby expressly understood, that, as long as such permission 
shall remain in force, it shall be competent for the Govern - 
Unent of the other power, notwithstanding the engagement 
set forth in the first article of this treaty, to admit the per- 
formance of the said service. Provided always, that, when- 
ever the power so granting permission to the said subjects or 
citizens to serve in the marine of the other, shall withdraw 
the same, notification thereof shall forthwith be made to the 
Dther contracting party, and, on receipt of such notification, 
.the power receiving the same shall forthwith notify it in the 
knost public and official manner, and shall use its utmost 
Ipndeavours to restrain the said subjects or citizens of the 

2 c 



386 APPENDIX. 

other party from further serving in its public or private 
marine, and shall enforce the exclusion of such of the said 
subjects or citizens of the other power as may then be in its 
service, as if no such permission had been promulgated. 

"4. In consideration of the stipulations contained in the 
preceding articles, it is agreed by the high contracting 
parties that, during the continuance of the present treaty, 
neither power shall impress or forcibly withdraw, or cause 
to be impressed or forcibly withdrawn, any person or persons 
from the vessels of the other power, when met upon the 
high seas, on any plea or pretext whatsoever. Provided 
always, that nothing contained in this article shall be con- 
strued to apply to the vessels of either power which may be 
within the ports, or within the maritime jurisdiction of the 
other, and also provided that nothing herein contained shall 
be construed to impair or affect the established right of 
search as authorized in time of war by the law of nations. 

f '5. The high contracting parties have agreed to extend 
the duration of the present treaty to ten years, and they 
reserve to themselves to concert, as to its renewal, at such 
convenient period, previous to it expiration, as may ensure 
to their respective subjects and citizens, the uninterrupted 
benefit which they expect from its provisions : Provided 
always, that either power may, if it deem it expedient, 
upon giving six months previous notice to the other,, wholly 
abrogate and annul the present treaty. 

"6. It is agreed that nothing contained in the preceding 
articles shall be understood to affect the rights and principles 
on which the high contracting parties have heretofore acted, 
in respect to any of the matters to which these stipulations 
refer, except so far as the same shall have been modified, 
restrained, or suspended, by the said articles. And, whenever 
the present treaty shall cease to be in operation, either by 
the expiration of the term for which it is enacted, without 
any renewal of the same, or by the abrogation thereof by 
either of the high contracting parties, as hereinbefore pro- 
vided, or. (which God forbid !) by any war between them, 
each of the said high contracting parties shall stand, with 
respect to the other, as to its said rights and principles, as if 
no such treaty had ever been made." 

In submitting these articles, the British plenipotentiaries j 
expressed upon the protocol their conviction, that, under all | 
the difficulties that surrounded the question, they would be I 
sufficient to satisfy us of the earnest disposition of Great if 
Britain to go every practicable length in a joint effort for I 
their removal, so as to connect the two countries in the 



PART II. 387 

firmest ties of harmony. It was with this solemnity that the 
subject was presented to our consideration. 

w It: u reCeive(i fr0m US a deliberate a nd anxious attention. 
We brought to the task an unaffected desire to smooth down 
every obstacle. It was not to be supposed that a subject that 
had divided the two nations for five-and-twentv years, and 
been the principal cause of a war, could be' definitively 
arranged by the first projet of a treaty drawn up bv one of 
the parties. But we hailed the entire plan as the harbinger 
ot adjustment, believing that we saw in its spirit and outline 
the sure hope of success. Taking an interval for advisement 
we said, that the proposal heretofore made by the United 
States could leave no doubt of their constant desire to settle 
this question, and declared our readiness to agree, with some 
amendments, to the plan submitted. We added our full 
expectation that, founded as it was in mutual confidence, it 
could not fail to have a happy effect towards rendering 
durable the relations of amity so happily subsisting between 
the two countries. These sentiments we, too, recorded on 
the protocol. 

Several of our amendments were only verbal. We did not 
thmk that the recital in the preamble met the whole case on 
both sides, and offered alterations, some of which were ap- 
proved. To the clause under which there might have been a 
claim to continue impressment in the narrow seas, we ob- 
jected, and it was, in effect, withdrawn. Nor did we like the 
particular mode, or place, in which Britain reserved the right 
of search at the close of the fourth article. We suggested 
m hen of it, that the words should go to a different article 
and provide that neither party should be affected by the 
^treaty "%n any of their belligerent or neutral rights as ac- 
\ knoivledged by the law of nations, except so far as modified 
• restricted, or suspended by the treaty" It becomes unneces- 
, sary, however, to dwell on these and other points as to which 
|the parties did not agree at first, since thev might have 
: agreed ultimately, had it not been for two that proved fatal 
'to the plan. To the explanation of these I confine myself 

The second article, with a view to ascertain the persons 
who were to be excepted from those intended to be excluded 
trom the sea-service of either nation, provides, that each shall 
furnish the other with a list of their names. This list was to 
specify the place of their birth, and dates of their naturaliza- 
lon; and none but persons whose names were upon it, were 
* fall within the exception. To this provision we were 
.)bliged to object, our laws not enabling us to meet all that it 
•equired. As a substitute, we proposed that '« no natural- 

2 c 2 



388 APPENDIX. 

" born subject or citizen of either power, whose name should 
c; not be included in the list, should be deemed to fall within 
" the exception, unless he produced proof of his having 

ei BEEN DULY NATURALIZED PRIOR TO THE EXCHANGE OF RATI- 
" FICATIONS OF THE TREATY/" 

Reasons must be given why the United States could not 
comply with the British article as it stood. Anterior to 
1789, aliens were naturalized according to the laws of the 
several States composing the Union. Under this system, the 
forms varied and were often very loose. The latter was 
especially the case when they were drawn up by justices of 
the peace, as sometimes happened. Since that epoch, the 
forms have been uniform, and are only permitted before such 
courts of record as are designated by the laws of the United 
States. But the designation includes not only courts of the 
United States, properly so called, but courts of the several 
States. Minor children also of naturalized persons, if the 
former be within the limits of the Union, become, ipso facto, 
naturalized. It must be added, that, for several years, no 
discrimination as to the birth-place of aliens was recorded. 
If attempts were made to procure the lists required, a first 
objection might have been, that the courts of the several 
States were not bound to obey, in this respect, a call from 
the general Gevernment. But granting that all obeyed, the 
lists would have exhibited nothing more than the names of 
British natural-born subjects, naturalized during a period of 
nearly thirty years. They would not designate seamen, the 
law not having required a record of the occupation; nor 
would they embrace minor children, their names never hav- 
ing been directed to be registered. There was but one other 
source from which lists could have been derived, and here 
only partially. By a law of 1796, collectors of customs were 
required to keep books in which the names of seamen, citizens 
of the United States, were, on their own application, to be 
entered. Under this law, as may be inferred from its terms, 
the entry of names was not full; nor did the law draw a 
distinction between native citizens and naturalized. 

From this summary it is manifest, that a compliance with 
the British article would have been impracticable. The 
unavoidable consequence of consenting to it would have been, 
that aliens naturalized before the treaty, and entitled by our 
laws to all the rights of citizens, would, by an ex post facto 
and therefore unconstitutional measure, have found themselves 
excluded from following the seas. 

All these obstacles we presented to the British pleni- 
potentiaries. They were plainly such as we could not remove, 



PART II. 389 

whatever our desire. But we urged, that the condition re- 
quired of us, appeared unnecessary. By the substitute pro- 
posed, every native-born subject of Britain claiming the right 
of serving in our vessels, and not being able to show his name 
upon the lists, would have to adduce other proof of his 
naturalization. This other proof must have been, either the 
original certificate of naturalization, or an authentic copy. 
It could have been on no better proof, that any names would 
have been returned in the lists. If minors claimed the benefit 
of the exception, legal proof must have been given of their 
identity ; to which must have been subjoined, proof of the 
naturalization of their fathers. We urged also the right re-- 
served to either party of annulling the treaty at will, as 
affording a security. It was a reservation, not of our choice, 
but acquiesced in, to avoid objection, and supersede the ne- 
cessity of details too complicated. It gave Britain a remedy 
in her own hands against deviations from the true spirit of 
the compact, whenever she believed any were committed. 

But we could not prevail upon the British plenipotentiaries 
to recede from their ground. They appeared to have taken 
up an impression, which we were unable to expel, that great 
numbers of their seamen intended by the treaty to be 
excluded, would, but for the condition annexed, find their way 
into our service. 

An error insensibly prevailing in Britain, seems to lie at 
the root of the evil. It consists in supposing that the United 
States cannot obtain seamen of their own, but must depend 
upon Britain. Why, any more than on Britons to till their 
farms, seems strange ! I will give an instance of this error. 
When the Franklin anchored off Cowes, visitors came on 
board. Her decks were filled with her seamen. To be sure, 
they looked like English seamen, and spoke the same lan- 
guage. Soon the rumour went, that many were English. 
All rumours grow ; so this. In a fortnight I read in the 
London prints, that one-third of the whole were native-born 
British subjects ! The news passed from journal to journal, 
fixing itself, no doubt, in the belief of many an honest Eng- 
lishman. The commentary upon it is, that Commodore 
Stewart informed me, that out of his crew, of seven hundred 
men, twenty-five would include all of foreign birth. Of these 
half were from parts of Europe other than Britain. I would 
not be guilty of supposing that errors so gross as the one I 
mention, could ever be committed by persons having better 
opportunities of information ; but it points to the popular 
misconception. I fully believe, and this not as an unexam- 
ined opinion, that the proportion of native American seamen 



390 APPENDIX. 

on board American ships- of- war, will always be found greater 
than of native British seamen on board British ships-of-war. 
The relative size of the two navies considered, it is demonstrable 
indeed, that the United States are far better able to man 
their' s with native American, than the British their's with 
native British. 

The other part of the projet that produced fatal diversity, 
was in the first article, It ran thus ; " Provided always that 
" nothing contained in this article shall be understood to 
Si apply to such natural-born subjects or citizens of either 
iC power as may have been naturalized by their respective laws 
"previous to the signature of the the present treaty/' In 
place of signature, we proposed " exchange of ratifica- 
tions." To the former, we could not consent. It would have 
brought with it the same consequence ; that of violating our 
Constitution. The obligations of a treaty are not complete 
until exchange of ratifications. To exclude from our service, 
subjects naturalized prior to that date, would have involved 
the objection of ex post facto. The British plenipotentiaries 
would not agree to drop their word. Here too was mani- 
fested what, to us, seemed needless apprehension. As by the 
laws of the United States a residence of five years is one of 
the pre-requisites to naturalization, the number of British 
seamen who could have come in between the two dates, must 
have been extremely small; not worth consideration, as we 
supposed, in a national point of view. But we could not 
succeed in making the British plenipotentiaries think so. 
The subject was debated until the closing hours of the 
negotiation, and then fell to the ground. It put the seal to 
the failure of our efforts. We had offered all that was pos- 
sible under our laws. We could go no farther. 

I pause a moment on the above narrative. I look back, 
with unfeigned regret, on the failure it records. Perhaps I 
may be wrong, for I speak from no authority, but am not 
able to divest myself of an impression that, had Lord Castle- 
reagh been in London, there would not have been a failure. 
I am aware that he was kept informed of the progress of the 
negotiation. We had reason to believe that the documents 
were regularly sent on for his inspection. Still, he could not 
share in the full spirit of all that passed. He had the 
European relations of Britain in his hands. Impressment, 
although in truth a primary concern, could not, at such a 
season, have commanded all his thoughts. But I know how 
anxiously he entered into it, before his departure for Aix-la- 
Chapelle. He saw that the great principle of adjustment 
had at last been settled ; and I can scarcely think that he 



PAUT II. 391 

would have allowed it to be foiled, by carrying too much 
rigour into details. It is uo part of my present purpose to 
draw the character of Lord Castlereagh in his connection 
with England, or Europe; but there was this in him, which 
his opponents did not deny, and history will a ward— an entire 
fearlessness. He knew that a treaty relinquishing impress- 
ment, no matter what the terms, would excite clamour in 
England come when it would.* But having made up his 
mind to the justice and policy of such a treaty, he would have 
faced the clamour. I believe that he set a high value upon a 
good understanding with the United States ; and if, in the 
particular instance assumed, my conjecture be not ill-founded 
who will say that his wisdom would not have been attested? 
Seamen as a race, are short-lived. Had the arrangement 
been perfected, the lapse of a very few years would have 
swept away the stock of naturalized British seamen in the 
United btates; whilst the treaty would have remained, a 
monument of the statesmanship of the minister under whose 
auspices it would have been concluded. 

This subject falling through, others of a maritime nature 
were withdrawn. It had been agreed that none were to be 
proceeded with, if we failed on Impressment. We offered 
articles on blockade, contraband, trading with the colonies 
of a belligerent, for the regulation of proceedings in prize 
cases, and the conduct of privateers and letters of marque. 

+v A™ il d J ™ edin 0ffers on most of them, omitting the 

third. Their discussion was carried on to some extent, but 

given over when discovered that we could not arrange the 

point on which all depended. B 

The failure to accommodate this fruitful source of strife, is 

■ only postponed, not defeated. If removed in no other way 

j it will cease, ultimately, through the cessation of the practice 

as a home measure in England. It cannot endure much 

longer. Englishmen will get awake to its true nature. It is 

the remark of a sagacious historian, that nations long after 

thei r ldeas b e gm to enlarge and their manners to refine, 

| adhere to systems 01 superstition founded on the crude con- 

R/r^ 1 V Sthe Same witK Public abuses. 

I he English part reluctantly with those sanctioned by time 

| -but, at length, public scrutiny and the moral sense of the 

would kave been small, if any <g a mo£." The STm^iT 



392 APPENDIX. 

nation, fasten upon them as in the case of the slave-trade. 
Reason emerges, as from a cloud. The abuses fall, and 
reprobation succeeds to the long tolerance that kept them 
up. Indications are not wanting of this coming change as 
to impressment. I could refer to some, derived from private 
intercourse ; but for this I should have no warrant, and will 
take other and public demonstations. Perhaps no association 
of men in the kingdon are more likely to form sound opinions 
on this subject, than the shipowners of London. This body, 
at a meeting in September 1818, deliberately condemned the 
practice, The report of their committee dwells upon its evils, 
and suggests measures for its entire abolition. There is 
something if possible more strong. Sir Murray Maxwell, a 
distinguished officer in the British navy, when a candidate to 
represent the great commercial interests of Westminster in 
the House of Commons, made an appeal too remarkable to 
be forgotten. Addressing himself to assembled thousands 
round the hustings, he said, that if his opponent could show 
that he had been <e for fifteen years engaged in promoting a 
political scheme of such national importance as the one that 
he (Sir Murray) had been labouring at, he would withdraw 
from the contest ; he meant, the efforts he had made, in con- 
cert with many of his brother officers, to do away the practice 
of impressment. 3 ' Need I go farther? If the conviction of 
the impolicy and enormity of this violation of the rights of 
the subject, this stain upon British humanity, has found its 
way into the circle of shipowners and naval officers, is it con- 
ceivable that the conviction will stop there? No; it will 
spread, until echoed by the voice of all Britain. 

In conclusion, I must superadd my testimony to that of 
every other American, that the United States cannot again 
permit the exercise, by any foreign power, of impressment 
on board their vessels. After the facts mentioned in the 
twelfth chapter, they would be untrue to themselves, and 
the race they spring from, if they did. 

I have gone through the topics of the Negotiation. I have 
given succinctly, but I trust accurately, those comprised in 
the Convention. I have set forth, I hope intelligibly, the 
causes of disappointment as to others. May the day soon 
arrive when the adjustment of at least that of Impressment, 
may cement by yet closer ties two nations that ought to feel 
and act like friends, instead of pouring out their blood in 
combat. 

THE END. 



A GLANCE 

AX 

THE COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

OF 

LOUIS PHILIPPE, 

AND 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848: 

WHILE THE AUTHOR RESIDED 

AS 

ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY 
OF THE UNITED STATES 

AT PAEIS, 

From 1847 to 1849. 



iNoiv first published in Europe.] 



u A Glance at the Court and Government of Louis 
Philippe, and the French Revolution which followed. 
Detached incidents, political, diplomatic, and social, the 
last brief and infrequent, of the Mission to France in 
1848, and portions of 1847 and 1849, from occasional 
notes during* the Mission, put into their present form 
after my return, to show the prominent events of the 
Revolution of February, 1848, which drove Louis 
Philippe from the throne, and what followed that ex- 
pulsion. Of the g-eneral business of the Mission, these 
notes do not design to present more than the smallest 
part. Conscious of deficiencies and imperfections in 
the parts they even aim at explaining-, I yet leave 
them for publication after my death." 

Richard Rush. 

Philadelphia, 

June, 1859. 



A GLANCE 



AT THE 



COUBT AND GOVERNMENT OF LOUIS PHILIPPE 
AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1818. 



On the 12th of June, 1847, I embarked at New 
York for France as Minister from the United States, 
under the appointment of President Polk, and the ap- 
probation of the Senate. Mr. Buchanan was Secre- 
tary of State, with whose well-prepared instructions 
I was charged. The post was as unexpected as 
unsought, which made me the more sensible to the 
confidence of the government in putting* it into my 
hands when there were others better qualified for 
it. I arrived at Havre on the 8th of Juty. Two 
of my daughters accompanied me, a third remain- 
ing at home with her Mother, who was in impaired 
health. I had also an attache to the mission, in 
young Mr. Stanton, of New York, son of Colonel 
Stanton of the army. These, with our servants, made 

I up my family. 

Staying two days at Havre, we left it on the 
10th for Paris by railway, but stopped again at 

j Rouen, further to recruit after the voyage. On the 
15th we reached Paris. At the railway station we 
found the Secretary of Legation, Mr. Martin ; Mr. 
Irwin, late charge d'affaires of the United States 
v.t Copenhagen, and Mr. Corbin, of Virginia, to 



396 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

welcome us on first arriving*. Others were there, 
whose names I cannot recall. We went to the 
Hotel Windsor, Eue de Rivoli, opposite the gardens 
of the Tuileries, where apartments had been taken 
for us. Oar front rooms looked out into those 
beautiful gardens. 

July 21. My baggage gets to Paris to-day. It 
comes by the Roulage, a slow conveyance. It was 
promised in four or five days. This is the ninth. It 
was left in charge of our acting consul at Havre, 
who forwarded it, the necessary orders having been 
transmitted by the French government for passing 
it free at the Havre custom-house. 

July 21. On this same day I have my first inter- 
view with M. Guizot, Minister of Foreign Affairs 
and President of the Council. I hand him a copy of 
my letter of credence from the President to the King, 
asking when I may hope for the honour of delivering 
the original to His Majesty in person. The minister 
replies that he will take the King's orders and inform 
me. I express a hope that the King is well. The minister 
says his health is very good, and that he speaks with 
interest of the time he spent in the United States. He 
represents his memory as rem ark ably retentive of what 
he saw there ; sometimes he went into details, and 
was not backward on those occasions in mentioning 
the straits to which he was put at periods when his 
remittances were stopped, or did not reach him punc- 
tually. He told him that during such times he had 
lived on two shillings a day. 

July 30. A note from the " Aide-de-Camp de 
Service pres du Roi " of this date, from the Palace 
" de Neuilly," informs me that the King will receive 
me at that Palace to-morrow at one o'clock. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 897 

July 31. Go to Neuilly, attended by the Secretary 
of Legation. On entering* the Palace, I was con- 
ducted by an Aide into the room where the King* 
was to receive me. In a few minutes the King* 
entered. He was attended by three of his Aides-de- 
Camp, and dressed in military uniform, as were the 
Aides. I wore the diplomatic costume of my 
country. The Secretary of Legation was also present. 
Approaching* the King, I said that I felt honoured in 
presenting to His Majesty, a letter from the President 
of the United States, which constituted me their 
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 
at his Majesty's Court. I felt this honour the more, 
as France was the great ally of the United States at 
an early day after the declaration of our Independence. 
To fulfil my instructions in doing* everything in my 
power during my residence towards strengthening the 
friendship and good understanding between France and 
the United States would naturally yield me the high- 
est satisfaction ; and I added that if, in performing 
these duties, I should be fortunate enough to perform 
them in a manner acceptable to His Majesty, the 
measure of my gratification would be full. 

Here I might have stopped. But the fetes in 
Paris in celebration of the three days of Revolution in 
July, 1830, having* just terminated, that subject was 
still fresh ; and I went on, in conclusion, to say, that 
I could not but consider myself fortunate in arriving 
in France during the celebration of the anniversary 
which had placed His Majesty upon the throne. And 
that he might witness many returns of it, continuing 
to behold Europe enjoying the peace which he had 
done so much towards securing, and live surrounded 
he affections of his august consort and family, 



398 COUKT AND GOVERNMENT 

was, I felt sure, the wish of the President ; and I 
hoped His Majesty would permit me to say it was mine 
also. 

The Kino-, on receiving* the letter of credence, said, 
in reply, that he had listened with interest to the 
sentiments I expressed. He begged I would assure 
the President that he reciprocated them full}*. The 
President could not estimate more highly than he 
did the value of friendly relations between the United 
States and France ; great and mutual benefits hung 
upon them, and it would be his constant desire to secure 
them as far as possible ; he remembered the ancient 
ties between the two countries, and always recurred 
to them with pleasure ; new motives and duties 
prompted to the continuance of their friendship, and 
nothing on his part should ever be wanting towards 
confirming it. Of all this he requested I would make 
the President sensible, and I could not do it in a 
manner too strong to convey his wishes to see the two 
countries promoting in all ways each other's welfare. 
He concluded with a kind word in reply to what I said 
on my own part. 

The King spoke with cordiality and emphasis. 
He spoke in English, with perfect command of the 
language. His prime minister, M. Guizot, when I 
talked with him, seemed equally master of it, though 
his pronunciation was not as thoroughly English as 
the King's. 

The ceremony of reception over, the King asked 
me to return and dine at the Palace at half-past six. 
Honoured by the invitation, I did not fail to ^accept 
it. He would then have an opportunity, he said, of 
introducing me to the Queen and others of his family. 
He included the Secretary of Legation in the in vita- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 399 

tion, and said, familiarly, as we came away, u And we 
will all take off our official costumes before meeting- at 
dinner." 

I arrived at half-past six. We assembled in one 
of the beautiful rooms of the Palace, which, although 
not a large one, strikes favourably upon the eye in 
every part I saw ; as do the grounds in driving' up 
to it. On entering-, I was presented to the Queen by 
the King 1 ; then to the King- and Queen of Belgium, 
the latter his daug-hter, now on a visit to her father 
with her royal consort. Afterwards he introduced me 
to Madame Adelaide, his sister ; then to the Dukes 
de Nemours, d'Aumale and Montpensier, his sons, 
the last having- married the beautiful young- lady of 
the royal house of Spain ; then to the Duchess of 
Orleans, relict of the King's eldest son, who lost 
his life by a melancholy accident near Neuilly. Other 
persons were assembled, making- perhaps eig*hteen or 
twenty in all, the g-entlemen all in plain dinner dress 
like the King-. 

In going* into dinner I took on my arm the 
Duchess of Montpensier ; an honour doubled by that 
of sitting- next to the Queen and on her rig'ht. The 
Kino- of Belo*ium sat on her left. In the middle of 
the table, opposite to the Queen, was the King'. The 
Queen of Belgium sat next to him. I do not remem- 
ber how the rest of the company entered or were 
placed, only that all were soon seated. The array of 
the company ; the flowers, porcelain, and silver on the 
ible ; the homestead where all were seen, might well 
call to recollection the phrase which embodies so much 

• .Belle France, 
My position at tabie was fortunate. The topics, 

lations, the dignified form, of the Queen \ her 



400 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

bland words and manner to the representative just 
arrived from a distant and friendly Power, are still 
fresh in my memory. She hoped I would like 
France — hoped I had found good apartments — she 
too remembered the ancient ties between France 
and my Country — the King* often spoke of the kind- 
ness he received there when a wanderer in early life — 
kindness he was fond of calling' up and never could 
forget. Conversation like this with Her Majesty as 
the dinner continued, was at moments varied by the 
exchange of a few words with the King* of Belgium, 
whose hospitality I had experienced, as Minister of 
the United States, at Marlborough House, in London, 
where he then lived as Prince Leopold, survivor of 
the Princess Charlotte, heiress apparent to the British 
throne. 

The dinner over, all returned to the drawing-room 
in the order we left it. The servants began to hand 
coffee ; when the King, with some of the ladies, 
walked out upon the lawn through windows open- 
ing to the floor. Others did the same, whom I accom- 
panied. Here the grounds had a rural beauty the 
more striking from being* simple. The servants 
followed with the coffee, serving it as we stood. The 
King came up to converse with me, but after a few 
words, invited me to a seat with him under a tree 
near us, where he said we could finish our coffee. I sat 
there with him half an hour in the long" twilio-ht of 
this summer evening. While we were conversing, 
some of the company returned to the Palace; some 
took other rural seats ; some were moving about the 
grounds. The King dwelt with interest on h^ ±*ii 
to the United States, more than half a century ago ; 
mentioned places where he had been, same of which 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 401 

were known to me ; spoke of our rivers, our moun- 
tains, our cataracts ; and now and then would touch 
upon incidents personal to himself, or his brothers, 
during- their travels through our towns, hamlets, 
and forests. He seemed to derive pleasure from 
i recurring to these scenes of his early and eventful 
; life. Before separating-, he inquired what part of my 
family had come with me. I told him two daughters. 
I He said I must bring them to Neuilly on Wednesday 
' evening, that he might introduce them to the Queen. 
It was not until twilight was departing that ray 
(carriage was announced, and I left the attractive 
scene which, inside of the Palace or outside, had thus 
marked my first official and social day in France. 

_ August 1. Go to Mr. Corbin's, at Versailles, 
jhis present country residence, where he entertains 
'several of our countrymen at dinner. Before 
dinner we walked in the gardens of the Palace 
and saw the fountains play. This great Palace, 
with its fountains and gardens, took my fancy less 
than the simple beauties at Neuilly ; or, if I am not 
carrying heresy still farther, than Warwick Castle 
and its grounds in England,— to bring together things 
so dissimilar. In the latter, though relatively small, 
and baronial in structure, Nature stands out grandly 
)y the side of Art. At Versailles, Nature seems 
lidden by Art. 

August 2. Devote the day to making visits of 
•eremony to members of the JRoyal family, Cabinet 
Ministers, the Diplomatic Corps, and other function- 
faes connected with the Government and Court, upon 
Worn it is usual for Foreign Ministers to call after 
emg officially received by the King. 
August 3. Nearly all on whom I called yesterday, 

2 d 



402 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

call on me to-day. The rest send cards. M. Guizot 
sits fifteen or twenty minutes. I refer to his speech 
in the Chamber of Deputies yesterday, in which he 
alluded to Washington ; always a grateful theme to 
Americans, and which M. Guizot knows how to touch. 
The Spanish ambassador, General Narvaez, is of those 
who call in person. The Marquis of Normanby, 
English ambassador, not calling to-day, I receive a 
note from him expressing* regret at his inability to 
call, from being* out of town. 

August 4. This evening* I take my daughters to 
the Palace at Neuilly, according* to the King's request, 
and introduce them to His Majesty. They are pre- 
sented also to the Queen, who receives them kindly, 
as she receives all. The company was not larg*e. The 
Queen sat at a circular table, where ladies of the Royal 
family were also sitting*, some with fine embroider}*- 
work before them. 

Aug-ust 7. We pass the evening' at Mr. Walsh's, 
our consul at Paris, now staying* with his family at^ 
St. Germain's. Hear from Mr. Walsh things that 
may prove useful in my mission. 

August 10. We dine and spend the day at Mr. 
Moulton's, an American g*entleman, settled in Paris ; 
the day made the more agreeable by Mrs. Moulton 
and the attractions of his chateau, twelve miles off, 
where they are for the summer. We ramble through 
the garden and grounds before g'oing* to dinner. M. 
and Madame Hotting*eur are of the company. 

August 12. We are at the marriage of Miss i 
Green to Mr. Vendenbrock, of Holland ; the bride a 
daughter of the eminent American banker. The, 
marriage ceremony takes place in the first instance: 
before the Mayor of the arrondissement of Paris, in 1 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 403 

which Mr. Green resides, and is repeated at the 
French Protestant Church ; of which M. Coquerel 
is the eminent rector. The scene winds up with a 
dejeuner a la fourchette suited to the festive occasion, 
given at the mansion of the bride's father, where many 
guests assemble in honour of it. 

August 19. We dine at Mr. Montgomery's, Rue 
de Matignon, a gentleman of Louisiana, where he 
spends part of the year and rejoins his family, living* 
in Paris during the other parts. Here, in a house 
which tradition says was formerly a royal residence 
in miniature, he dispenses, with Mrs. Montgomery, a 
kind hospitality, in which we shared. 

August 23. Dine at the Swedish Minister's, Count 
de Lowenhielm, who entertains the Diplomatic Corps, 
most of whom are present. A topic at table was M. 
Guizot's defence of the Ministry against the eloquent 
Montalembert's attack, just before the Chambers rose. 
A pithy sentence was repeated from it, — that it was 
pleasant for the minister to hear the government re- 
proached by the noble peer for governing* too much, 
when it was so often accused of not governing at all. 
I sat next to the Prussian Minister, Count d'Arnim, 
to whose conversation I listened with benefit. 

Another topic came up, which all Paris talks about 
I just now — the murder of the Duchess de Praslin. It 
! took place a few nights ago, in her own bed, at Hotel 
, Sebastiani, not far from where we were dining. 
Screams from her maid awoke the men servants, who 
i hastened to the door of her mistress's chamber, which 
i was locked ; but they got in through a window by 
the garden, and found her body bruised and gnashed, 
j as if she had been struggling for her life. What 
makes the matter worse is, that her husband is under 

2d2 



404 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

suspicion of being 1 the murderer. They slept in 
different chambers; and one of the servants swore 
that he saw the Duke, as he supposed, though it was 
midnight, leave her chamber through the door, as he 
entered by the window. These were circumstances 
mentioned. The parties w r ere know r n to some of the 
company ; he about forty, she younger, and daughter 
of General Sebastiani, Marshal of France. They have 
children, and had just returned from his country 
estate near Melun, on the mansion and grounds of 
which, it was said, he had expended large sums to 
adorn still more its ancient beauties. What makes 
more talk about the murder is, the coupling of the 
name of a governess with it who was sent out of the 
family on suspicion of improper conduct ; to whom, 
nevertheless, the Duchess granted a pension for life. So 
it was stated. 

Our entertainer had long enjoyed the confidence 
of his Sovereign, and been many years in the diplo- 
matic service of Sweden. He was full of sprightli- 
ness, and enlivened us with anecdotes — some of the 
past, others of present things in Paris. 

September 1. Go to the King's at his Palace, St. 
Cloud. It was reception-night. The Diplomatic Corps 
were nearly all there, a few of the Cabinet, and others 
of the Court circle. 

The King asks me what my accounts are from the 
United States. I tell him that I think our army has 
entered Mexico, though we have no official accounts 
of it. He asks for my daughters, and hopes they like 
Paris. It could not be otherwise, I reply. He hopes 
they will like it better as they know it more. He 
introduces me to the Prince de Joinville, his naval son, 
much a favourite with the French, whom I had not 
seen before , 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 405 

September 2. Leave Hotel Windsor and go to 
Versailles. We find good apartments at the Hotel du 
Keservoir, near the gardens of the Palace, to which we 
have convenient access from the hotel. 

September 4. The feeling- of horror at the murder 
of the Duchess de Praslin is not lessened by the fact, 
which the papers mention, that the Duke has taken 
arsenic and died by his own hand \ thus turning* the 
suspicion of his having* been the murderer of his wife, 
into belief. Letters to him from her, published since 
her death, show a mind of the highest culture, with 
sensibilities tender and affectionate, ag-onized by the 
temper and conduct of her husband ; towards whom 
she appears to have been forgiving- to the last. So ends 
4 this remarkable tragedy in domestic life, half romantic 
in its horrors. 

September 13. Go this evening from Versailles to 
the King's, at St. Cloud. The Diplomatic Corps are 
there. We offer our congratulations on the birth of a 
daughter to the Duke d'Aumale ; and on the escape of 
the Duke de Nemours from being shot by the Prince 
de Joinville, when they were out shooting together 
yesterday. It appeared, however, that he received 
a slight wound on the cheek. 

The King honored me with some conversation. 
The subject of it was the tone of the English press on 
the Spanish marriage question. General Narvaez, 
lately the Spanish Ambassador here, had returned to 
Madrid, and some of his movements there had, it 
seems, roused the English press anew, as His Majesty 
said. He then expressed himself much to this effect; 
that having refused for one of his sons (the Duke de 
Nemours) the crowns of Belgium and Greece, and 
having long resisted a marriage with the Queen of 



406 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

Spain, pressed upon the Duke d'Aumale until his 
refusal had become hardly respectful, he was now to 
be called to account because another of his sons (the 
Duke de Montpensier) had married the sister of the 
Queen. He spoke of Lord Palmerston in a few words 
not necessary to repeat, it being* well known that the 
King's preferences were for Lord Aberdeen, as Eng- 
land's Foreign Secretary, rather than Lord Palmer- 
ston, and that the former held M. Guizot in high 
esteem. I listened to His Majesty's remarks with 
attention, the topic being a prominent one. It 
was not for me to comment on the question of two 
crowns, or titles to them, concentrating* in one Eoj^al 
House ; and as he only alluded to the English press, 
I confined myself to remarking on its unrestrained' 
tone at all times and on all subjects. In that charac- 
teristic of it, I said, might be found the errors it so 
often falls into in regard to my country. The King 1 
replied that he knew the nature of the English press, 
as Europe did ; it would say anything, and stop at 
nothing'. Yes, Sir, I rejoined, we know this on our 
side of the Atlantic ; but the press will have its say in 
free countries. It runs riot in ours ; and strong coun- 
tries can bear it. His Majesty wound up by saying 
that its clamor would not alter his purposes ; it did him 
injustice as to his course towards Italy, Switzerland, 
and Spain, but he would be true to his policy, which 
was to respect the rights of other states, and be glad as 
the condition of each grew better, as all would reap 
the benefit, France among the rest. 

September 29. Beturn to Paris after a month of 
delightful weather spent at Versailles. Our visits to 
the Palace, whenever inclination led us to see its 
memorials of art in painting, statuary, and every 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 407 

thing- ; our walks through the gardens and grounds, 
sometimes extending them to the Grand and Petit 
Trianon, will make this month memorable in our recol- 
lections of France. Troops passed in front of our 
windows every morning, to music from mounted 
bands ; but among incidents less usual, and therefore 
less to be forgotten, were the working-men in blouses 
we would so often see in the gilded rooms of the 
Palace, silently looking at the pictures, or wandering 
about in the gardens. Not a picture, not a flower, 
did they touch. They seemed trained to decorum. It 
was the condition on which they seemed glad to be 
there to derive pleasure, if not imbibe thoughts to bear 
good fruit. Whole parties from the provinces would 
also come to see the Palace and grounds, all France 
appearing to have a pride in them. They were open 
to all, free of expense, the humble as well as the high. 
Artists of both sexes might be seen there every day 
in the week in fine weather, sitting on portable chairs, 
copying any picture they chose, from the vast collec- 
tion in the rooms, or taking landscape views from the 
gardens and grounds. 

1 went daily to Paris by railway in case I had been 
wanted at the Leg-ation, returning to dinner by five or 
six o'clock, though the Secretary of Legation was 
always there. It was the " dead season " for diplo- 
I matic men in Paris, the King not being there, and 
the members of the Cabinet partly out of town. 

October 1. Again in Paris, I establish, my resi- 
dence at 63, Rue de Lille, Faubourg St. Germain. 
[ We are fortunate in having part of an excellent hotel, 
j well situated. A few paces from the concierge, 
8 j bring you to Quai d'Grsay, from which opens a view 
of the gardens and Palace of the Tuileries ; as we had 



408 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

both before us from another point of sight, when first 
at the Hotel Windsor, Rue de Rivoli. 

October 5. Visit Princess Lieven, at her apart- 
ment, Rue St. Florentine, in the hotel once occupied 
by Talleyrand. She invites me to her receptions, and 
calls on my daughters. I had the honour of knowing* 
her in London when Minister there, while her distin- 
guished husband, then Count Lieven, was Russian 
Ambassador in London, and had much agreeable inter- 
course at their house. We spoke of those da}'s. I 
learn that she holds the place in Parisian society to 
have been expected from her talents and accomplish- 
ments, which were appreciated in London. 

October 6. To-day the King enters his seventy- 
fourth year. I hear that it is not expected of the Diplo- 
matic Corps to go to the Palace or leave cards there, 
in compliment to the occasion — a form usual in England 
on the King's birthday. 

October 9. At M. Guizot's last night. It was re- 
ception night. Many gentlemen were there, and the 
Diplomatic Corps in part. One of them told me there 
was great satisfaction on the part of the King and 
Cabinet at the new ministry in Spain, from Narvaez 
being at its head. 

In one of the rooms hung portraits of Louis 
Philippe and the Queen, with a very few others. 
Prominent among the few was General Washington's ; 
and there was also one of Alexander Hamilton. 
In conversation with M. Guizot about the latter, the 
" Federalist " was spoken of; that great production of 
three of the eminent men of our Revolutionary period, 
to which Hamilton and Madison contributed so largely, 
and which purports to propound^ by the lights of history 
and reason, the mixed principles in which the Consti- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 409 

tution of the United States is founded. Of this pro- 
duction M. Guizot thus expressed himself: he said, 
that "in the application of elementary principles of 
government to practical administration, it was the 
greatest work known to Mm." I make a note of this 
well -expressed eulogy of the " Federalist/' as M. 
Guizot, besides being* Prime Minister of France, and 
dealing- with the practical affairs of a great nation, is 
also deeply read in the science of government, ancient 
and modern. His words are therefore the more to be 
valued and remembered. 

October 18. I was last night at Princess Lieven's, 
by her invitation. She introduces me to Count 
d'Appony, the Austrian Ambassador, and the Countess 
d'Appony ; also to the Marquis Brignoli, Ambassador 
from Sardinia, and the Marchioness Brignoli. Other 
persons of distinction are there; amongst them ; M. 
Guizot. 

A gentleman enters the rooms^ towards whom many 
eyes turn. He is advanced in life. Insignia of merit and 
honor are seen on his person. As he advances towards 
Princess Lieven, her manner at once indicates how 
cordially he is welcomed. She extends her hand, which, 
with a grace not to be exceeded, he raises to his lips. 
It was Baron Humboldt, the philosopher^ the man of 
g'enius, the votary of science ; possessing knowledge so 
universal, with worth and modesty so great, that all 
respect him — all desire to do him honor. The Prussian 
Minister, Count d'Arnim, introduced me to him. I was 
gratified at his remembering that he dined at my 
Father's, in Philadelphia, long years ago_, when on his 
way to enter upon his travels in Mexico and South 
America, with Montufan and Bonpland. And I can 
remember that his conversation on that occasion, 



410 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

showed an acquaintance with English literature which 
made its impression on all at table. He spoke to me 
of Mr. Prescott, our historian, in the highest terms ; 
saying- that his fame was higher perhaps in Germany 
than in England, justly as he was appreciated in Eng- 
land. I understood that this illustrious philosopher 
was near his eightieth year. He is now in Paris^ to 
attend the sittings of the National Institute, and receives 
the most distinguished attentions. 

October — . Dine at the Marquis Brignoli's, Sar- 
dinian Ambassador. A laro-e and brilliant dinner. 
The Pope's tendency towards reforms in government, 
is spoken of. At ten o'clock go to the soiree of 
Countess d'Appony, where a good portion of the dinner 
company also go. 

October 21. Dine with our American friend, Dr. 
Daniel, of Georgia, at the Trois Freres, Palais Royal. 
He crossed the sea with us from New York, with a 
son and daughter; the latter winning the esteem of 
my daughters, as of all who knew her; the son full of in- 
tellectual promise, but lost to his family by having fallen 
in a duel in Georgia after he returned from France. 

October 28. At the King's reception last night at 
St. Cloud. His Majesty talked to me about our affairs 
in Mexico. He began by asking what were my ac- 
counts from the United States. Good, I said, as to 
the success of our army in Mexico. Yes : that I per- 
ceive, he said : it is nothing so far but glory for your 
arms; but what of peace? I am thinking* of that. 
When will you have peace 1 that is my wish. I wish 
it as the friend of the United States. Your Majesty 
cannot wish it more than we do, I replied ; '^but we 
must have it on just terms. War, he rejoined, was 
always bad, and Nations did not get from it what 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 411 

they expected, but only injured each other, as you 
and Mexico are doing*. But, 1 remarked, when one 
Nation has been aggrieved by another, as we think we 
have been by Mexico, and can g*et no redress, what 
is to be done ? War with her, he again said, could 
do us no g'ood, and reiterated his opinion on the in- 
utility of wars. I remarked, that Mexico had struck 
the first blow in this war, and asked his Majesty if he 
would permit me to express frank opinions. Certainly, 
he said ; it was what he was damg, and in the most 
friendly manner. I then said that our error had been 
in submitting" too lono- to indignities from Mexico, and 
that had my country acted, as France acted ten years 
ago, when his gallant son, the Prince de Joinville, was 
sent with Admiral Baudin to Vera Cruz to obtain redress 
at the cannon's mouth, for fewer affronts, as we believed, 
than the United States had received, we would probably 
have had no war at all with her. The King's comment 
upon this was, that France did not get what she sought 
by it, after all. He went into no particulars, but passed 
to the peculiarities of the Spanish race, as seen in 
history, and seen very memorably when Bonaparte 
overran Spain. He beat the Spaniards in the field ; 
! trampled on them ; but like grass under the foot, it rose 
up again when you took your foot off. Two hundred 
thousand Frenchmen found graves in Spain at his 
bidding. I said I was sure His Majesty did not mean 
to identify the conduct of the United States with 
Bonaparte's in Spain, who made little scruple of avow- 
ing his project of sheer conquest against the known will 
of the Spaniards. By no means, he said, but only that 
he thought we should find the Mexicans as hard to 
deal with, as Bonaparte found the Spaniards. I dis- 
sented, with all deference, as our cause was wholly 



COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

different, and because we had not }^et sufficiently used] 
our strength ag'ainst Mexico; that hitherto, after every I 
victory, our army had paused to hold out the olive- j 
branch ; for all which we got no other returns than I 
defiance. To this effect were my remarks. The King 
still dwelt upon peace. Jt was the topic constantly 
coming- back to him. I had no aim to change his 
opinions, my only aim being* to do justice to my 
country; the King's feelings towards which were con- 
stantly expressed. 

Count Walewski, late Minister from France to 
La Plata, having* returned to Paris on the raising* of 
the blockade by England in those waters, through the 
interposition of the British Minister, Lord Howden, 
and there being" rumors that the Count had come back 
under a hope that France would send a considerable 
force to that country, — six thousand troops, the 
rumof said, — my conversation with the King seemed 
to present the opportunity of alluding to this subject. 
The spirit of His Majesty's remarks about Mexico, 
pointed to the improbability that such a body of 
French troops would be sent there by France ; and so 
I ventured to intimate. You are right, was his 
reply : I shall not send six thousand men there, nor 
six hundred, nor one man. I said I was glad to hear 
it, and would let my Government know it ; and hoped 
I mig'ht be able to add that the blockade would be 
raised on the side of France, as it had been by Eng- 
land, the commerce of the United States being 
interested in its complete removal. The King was 
not so definite on this point; the subject, he said, 
was subjudice between the Governments of France 
and England. 

October 30. I receive a letter from Mr. Prescott, 






OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 413 



i which states that for some years he has been col- 
lecting" manuscripts from the different capitals of 
■■Europe, to illustrate the history of Philip the Second 
i of Spain. He has ascertained, it also states, that the 
^.papers of Cardinal Granville, comprising" an important 
mass of documents bearing* upon his investigations, 
;:are at Besancon ; and that he has, under this infor- 
■ mation, sent an ag*ent there to examine the archives. 
-■His ag'ent learns that the papers have been removed 
to Paris, and are in course of publication by the French 
) (.Government, but will not be on sale. Under these 
•circumstances, Mr. Prescott goes on to state, that a 
e {friend of his in Paris, Count de Circourt, having" en- 
couraged him to believe that an application by me to 
the French Government for a copy of the papers 
<anight be favourably received, I consent at once to 
ifjdnake the application \ and accordingly I address a 
dilnote to the Minister of Public Instruction on the sub- 
i.ject. Almost on the next da}^ I receive an answer 
i, from the minister, M. Salvandy, complying with my 
if request, accompanied by six quarto volumes, corn- 
uprising the whole collection of Cardinal Granville's 
is ^papers. I cause the volumes to be forwarded to Mr. 
jr Prescott, in Boston, appreciating this prompt homage 
;r to letters on the part of the King's Government, under 
jdSmy official application, and I inform our Government 
P }f the fact. 

November 5. Dine with the Minister of Foreign 

Affairs. It was my first dinner there, and first at the 

house of any member of the French Cabinet. The 

j company was very larg'e, perhaps forty or more, all 

B gentlemen, and nearly all official persons, consisting of 

the home ministers, foreign ministers, and others. 

t jlhe venerable Humboldt appeared to be the only per- 



414 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

son present not official. The official persons were all 
announced by the servants under their titles of office. 
This is not done in England, or was not in my day, 
in regard to the home ministers. These, when of the 
nobility, are announced by their titles ; when not, by 
their names simply. The difference may arise from 
different national customs in small matters as in great ; 
or it may be that the English prefer to be designated 
by the family patent of dignity, as more durable than 
titles of office — so apt to be fleeting. 

In going in to dinner, M. Guizot led the way. I 
did not perceive under what other observances a com- 
pany so large entered ; nor is it material. All pro- 
bably went in and were arranged under forms known 
to all, an attention to which prevents confusion. The 
porcelain and silver appeared to be marked with the 
official stamp of the Foreign Office. At night the 
drawing-room3 were fully attended, ladies coming in 
large numbers as well as gentlemen. 

Before going- in to dinner, the company being a 
good while in assembling, I had conversation with 
Baron Humboldt. He hoped we would soon make 
peace with Mexico ; we were the stronger party, and 
could afford to stop \ he felt for Mexico ) he remem- 
bered his early visit to that fine country, so rich in 
nature's gifts. I said we should hardly stop, I 
thought, until we got California, as due to the ex- 
penses the war had put us to, and our provocations 
to it, as we viewed the subject. The venerable Baron 
said he was not acquainted with the merits of the dis- 
pute, but it struck him that England seemed careless 
under our advances in that region ; to which my reply 
was that, as regarded the future commerce of the 
Pacific, we sought no more than our just share with 
England and other nations. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 415 

November 8. We dine at Mr. Ridgway's, a fellow- 
townsman and friend from Philadelphia, who has come 
to Paris and taken a hotel in Rue de Varennes, Faub. 
St. Germain, where, with Mrs. Ridgway, as the grace- 
ful head of his house, they give their attractive enter- 
tainments. After dinner we go to the grand French 
Opera, where we see Cerito. 

November 13. We were at M. Guizot's reception 
last night. The rooms were full ; the Diplomatic 
Corps and members of the Cabinet largely attending, 
with many others. The mother of the minister was 
present, and his two daughters. One of them pre- 
sented strangers to their venerable grandmother, who 
did not rise from her chair, appearing to be much ad- 
vanced in years ; and I could not avoid observing in 
M. Guizot's manner towards her a courteous, I had 
almost said pious, reverence. To me this was 
touching, in a son whose own talents, with few other 
aids, had raised him to the premiership of this great 
nation ; a sphere in which he was daily encountering 
the ablest men of France in debate, in the Chambers, 
with consummate ability. From this reception we go 
to the British Embassy, where there is a large assem- 
blage. The Princess Lieven is there. I hear 
whispers that she resides in Paris, at the instance of 
the Emperor Nicholas, as an informal ambassadress, 
(sub rosa^) having succeeded to much of the confidence 
her husband enjoyed at the hands of the Emperor 
Alexander, whilst Russian Ambassador in London ; 
but the whispers are faint as I catch them. Appear- 
ances at her establishment, Rue St. Florentine, would 
seem to indicate no more than eminent private life. 

November 15. I was last night at the King's, at 
St. Cloud, and held conversation with His Majesty, 



416 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

somewhat more full than usual, about Mexico and 
other things he, of course, inviting* it. 

Authentic details being' known here of the battles of 
Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Be} 7 , and Chapul- 
tepec, which ended in General Scott's entry into 
Mexico, the King- began b}^ asking", * ; What news of 
peace, Mr. Minister ?" I answered that I feared it 
was farther off than when I last herd the honor of 
talking- with His Majesty on the subject ; that the 
Mexicans not onl} r rejected our offers of peace, but 
violated an armistice, granted by General Scott when 
on the eve of entering' their city ; they had turned the 
interval of suspended hostilities to their own account, 
by strengthening- the city with fresh troops and other- 
wise, while our army, reduced still lower by the killed 
and wounded in these sharp battles, received no in- 
crease whatever •. thereby causing* a further and need- 
less effusion of blood on our side before the American 
banner was planted in their capital ; that such conduct 
had not only prostrated once more the hopes of peace, 
but created a feeling- in the United States for carrying- 
on the war more effectively. 

The King's first words w r ere those of Polonius : — 

" Beware 
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but, being in, 
Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee." 

I thanked His Majesty for these words from the 
great poet of our language : they applied in all things 
to my countr}' just now. I would not forget them. 
We had been slow to go to war with Mexico ; we de- 
sired to avoid it ; but the time had come when there 
would probably be an exertion of force on our side 
which would be likely to warn her for the future. 
The King* replied that this might be burdensome, if not 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 41? 

exhausting*, to us. I thought not ; nothing 1 would be 
considered burdensome while vindicating* our rights. 
But what of your finances? They are ample, I re^ 
joined ; they had not been much drawn upon as yet^ 
although all the supplies of our army since entering 
the territories of Mexico had been fully paid for in 
cash from our own army-chest ; but henceforth, perhaps, 
the enemy might be made to bear some of the cost, in 
the hope that an appeal in that form might operate in 
favour of peace. Although His Majesty commenced 
with the apt quotation I give, he soon reverted to his 
favourite theme of peace. Whatever might be our 
power, he devoutly wished for peace, as the friend of 
the United States ) not that he was the foe of the 
other party ; that was not his feeling ; it was not for 
him to decide on the grounds of dispute between us ; 
in all wars each side thought itself in the rio'ht. 
Might we not, he asked, by drawing out our military 
power, get too fond of war, and keep up large standing 
armies to retain conquests if we made them ? though 
it was not for him to predict results of any kind, nor 
did he. I said there was little fear of our keeping up 
laro-e standing armies ; our institutions were against 
them, as well as the nature of our population, which 
would be always likely to yield volunteer forces. Our 
distance also from the great Powers of the Old World, 
made larg*e standing armies unnecessary. But, as 
wars would happen, and as Mexico had forced this 
upon us, as we believed, I asked the King whether 
the prospects at present did not suggest ultimate views, 
bearing favourably upon French interests, which His 
Majesty could judge of better than I could. In the 
commerce of the North Pacific, the United States or 
England, I remarked, seemed destined to predominate ; 

2 E 



418 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

at present we were ahead in the whale fisher}^ and 
other branches of a growing" trade in those regions ; 
and the blindness of Mexico was throwing upon us 
the obvious necessity of consolidating our interests on 
the shores of the Pacific from California to Oregon. 
I spoke in no wrong' spirit towards England, with 
whom our interests inculcated relations of the most 
friendly good will at all times, and such I had always 
inculcated, but was only glancing at a future that 
might be before us. 

His Majesty gave no opinion as to the future pre- 
dominance of England or the United States in those 
seas, though rather expressed a belief that our com- 
mercial flag would prevail there ; he remembered 
how we laid the foundations of early success by our 
activity in the carrying trade during the wars of the 
French Revolution ; as to France, she deprived herself 
of benefits she might obtain in commerce, by being- 
too restrictive ; but what were to be all the results 
of the English policy, which had latterly gone so 
far the other way, seemed uncertain as yet ; lie did 
not defend monopolies : free trade, with some regula- 
tion, being the best. It was to this effect he ex- 
pressed himself. 

The Mexican war was lost sio-ht of in what the Kino- 
had been saying* on commercial policy ; and as it was 
among my instructions to get better terms in trade 
with France than existed, she still keeping* up heavy 
duties on our productions, while we; have been reducing 
ours on hers, I improved the opportunity of alluding* 
to this subject. Bringing up one item, I expressed a 
hope that the tobacco monopoly might be made to 
give way for the sake of our Southern States, in some 
of which that commodity had always been grown, and 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 419 

could be produced in much larger quantity. Consider- 
ing' the present consumption of tobacco in France, I 
could not avoid the conclusion that if our tobacco were 
admitted into the country under a moderate duty, its 
increased consumption would so augment importation 
as in the end to make amends to France even in re- 
venue for the loss of the monopoly. It was so I spoke ; 
but His Majesty did not acquiesce. The monopoly 
yielded more than a hundred millions of francs, he 
said, in annual value, and he was not prepared to say 
what would be the effect of a change. Besides, even 
were he disposed to think well of it, that would make 
no difference ; his was but " a voice in the wilderness/' 
and a public conviction long- entertained in France on 
matters of trade was not to be easily changed. 

My hopes for our tobacco were in some degree 
damped by these remarks from this source. I did 
not, however, consider the subject as put to rest, mean- 
ing to return to it again with the King's Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, whose enlightened mind I knew ; but 
I dropped the conversation about it at the Palace. It 
would have been out of place in me to originate this 
part of the conversation ; but the King opened the way 
to it, and I was aware of the business mind and habits 
of His Majesty ; knew that he was industrious ; looked 
I into every branch of the public administration : in- 
! formed himself of ever}- thing, seeking out details as 
•well as principles ; and therefore naturally inferred 
that his experience and knowledge, gained throughout 
the vicissitudes of an eventful life in various countries, 
would predispose him but the more to seek truth upon 
the throne. The King- beckoned me to the chair next 
to him when he began the conversation \ this memo- 
randum of which will come under the notice of my 

2 e2 



420 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

Government. Generally he stands while in conversa- 
tion with the foreign ministers. 

In mine with him this evening relating* to Mexico, 
I was led to infer, but it was only an inference, that 
he silently desires our success, now that he thinks the 
war is sure to go on ; but that he is distrustful of our 
power to command success to the extent we suppose. 

November 16. Dined yesterday at M. Kumpft's, 
charge d'affaires of the Hanse towns, who entertained 
the Diplomatic Corps. He married an American lady, 
which seems a link to my eountiy. If this may have 
led to the commencement of friendly relations between 
us in Paris, his own worth strengthens them. After 
dinner I go to Mr. Walsh's. 

November 19. We dine at M. Hottinguer's, the 
eminent banker, long* known in Paris for his friendly 
hospitality to Americans, and his just estimate of our 
country. In conversation in the course of the evening 
on the state of public opinion in France, outside of 
partisan circles, it was stated, as a good omen of the 
financial condition of the eountiy, that the large loan of^ 
upwards of three hundred millions of francs, authorized 
by the Chambers at the close of the session, had gone 
off well, notwithstanding the manner in which opposi- 
tion papers assailed the terms. The fact was mentioned 
as showing public confidence in the Government, and as 
auspicious to the farther prosperit}^ of the eountiy, the ( 
loan being for the benefit of the public works. It was 
said that the terms were thought fair by first-class 
business men who had taken no part of the loan. 

November 26. At St. Cloud last night, with my 
daughters. All who were there were specially invited. 
It was not a very large assemblage. It was given in 
honour of the anniversar}^ of the marriage of the King* 
and Queen, though not so announced in the invitation. 



OF LOUIS THILIPPE. 421 

Arriving at the Palace, we ascended the grand stair- 
case and moved about in the rooms where the company 
were assembling*. In one were seen Gobelins tapestry, 
representing painting's with such perfect skill that they 
might readily have been taken for the originals. The 
Royal Family were all present. The Duchess of 
Orleans had by her side her two children, the Count de 
Paris and Duke de Chartres, the former heir appa- 
rent of the French Throne. The Diplomatic Corps were 
nearly all present ; the King's Ministers, and others 
connected with the court. The King and Queen spoke 
to all present with their usual cordiality, the latter using 
words to my daughters of kindly import. Soon the 
King and Queen advanced, the King with the Queen 
on his arm, into a verdant passage or avenue, called 
the orangerie, somewhat serpentine, which opened from 
one of the rooms, and led I knew not whither, at first. 
They were followed by the Royal Famny and the rest 
of the company, the ladies walking together two and 
two, preceded by those of the Royal Family — the 
gentlemen all following in the same order. The 
Duchess of Orleans and her young* sons remained in 
the rooms we left. The orangerie was partially lighted 
up. Roses, jessamine, flowering* shrubs and orange- 
trees, were ranged on each side as we walked through 
the middle. Its termination brought us into a theatre 
annexed to the palace. This was brilliantly lighted up. 
The company took their seats in the boxes, the King*, 
Queen, and Royal Family going into the large box in 
front of the stage. The parterre was already filled 
with military officers, or appearing to be such, in fall 
uniform. Music welcomed all as we entered the 
threatre through the avenue of flowers and sweets. 
The play was " Le Bouquet de 1' Infanta," a comic 



422 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

opera in three acts, followed by the u Hungarian 
Dancers/' as an after piece. Between the two pieces, 
the servants of the Palace, in their rich liveries, handed 
refreshments to the company in the boxes. Good 
humour prevailed, as if Thalia had suddenly descended 
among* us on her wings. The King' seemed to forget 
public solicitudes in an occasional smile which the Queen 
shared. Others of the Eoyal Family joined with the 
company in mirth more audible, as the actors drew it 
out. The decorations of the theatre were of crimson 
and gold, and the whole scene was beautiful. It was 
quite late before we got home. 

November 29. We go to-night to the reception 
at St. Cloud. A large company, the Eoyal Family, 
Diplomatic Corps, and others. The beautiful play 
we had seen here a few nights ago was fresh in our 
memories. The Queen receives all with the gentleness 
and dignity ever belonging to her. 

November 30. Attend the funeral of Mr. Tschann, 
the Diplomatic Eepresentative of Switzerland. The 
Diplomatic Corps attend ; also M. Guizot and some of 
the King's Ministers. Two of the royal carriages were 
there, and other attentions had been shown by the King*, 
grateful to the friends of the deceased. The funeral pro- 
ceeded from the domicile of Mr. Eumpft, charge d'affaires 
from the Hanse towns, and friend of the deceased. 

December 21. Last night we were at Mr. Walsh's. 
The party was large. Among those present were the 
venerable Humboldt* both the Dupins* M. de Toc- 
queville ; a grandson of Lafayette, in the person of 
M. Oscar Lafayette; some of the De Kalb family, 
whose French ancestors rendered g*allant services in ' 
our revolution ; and others of note in French societ}^. 
Many of our own country, including ladies, were there. 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 423 

The whole evening* went off well : the animated cour- 
tesy of our consul, and kind attentions of the ladies of 
his family to nil present, making- it agreeable to all. 
There was much intellectual conversation, and much 
that was sprightly, with music at intervals. 

December 23. The King held a reception at the 
Tuileries last night, having left St. Cloud for the season. 
I took Mr, Bancroft, United States Minister in London, 
here at present on a visit. The King did not appear, 
having* a bad cold. The Queen received everybody, 
making apologies for the King* with her accustomed 
grace. All were in black, under a court mourning' for 
the Archduchess Maria Louisa, Duchess of Parma and 
widow of Napoleon. 

December 25. At M. Guizot's last nigh^ happy to 
take Mr. Bancroft with me. Baron Humboldt was 
there, most of the Diplomatic Corps and others. 
Among the English present was Dr. Huet,, of Trinity 
College, Cambridge, to whom I was introduced ; a 
person of high repute for learning and ability. He 
spoke very highly of the works of our Mr. Wheaton 
and Judge Story in the fields of jurisprudeuce and 
public law, seeming familiar with them. 

December 26. The near close of the year may be 
a suitable time for noting down a few thoughts on the 
state of parties, and condition of France, since my 
arrival in the summer. 

I had hardly been a day at Havre before I heard of 
the unpopularity of the King and his government. 
When I got to Paris I found complaints against both 
greatly increased. In official circles, and those in 
intercourse with them, I received indeed, other im- 
pressions ; but out of these, discontent and crimination 
were more or less heard. The press was pouring 



424 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

forth its daily fire upon all public measures. One 
paper, and only one of account that I could at first 
hear of, gave the ministers support. This was the 
Journal des Debats. The general fault-finding ap- 
peared to be coupled with distrust of the King. He 
was accused of being selfish, hypocritical, crafty ; for- 
getting his promises, forgetting his duties to the 
nation, in exclusive devotedness to the interests of his 
family, and perpetuation of his d}^nasty. The Republi- 
cans said he had deceived them, and the Legitimists 
continued to be his foes. The Bonapartists had no sym- 
pathies with him, though the remains of the Emperor 
had been brought from St. Helena in a frigate com- 
manded by the Prince de Joinville, and his statue 
replaced on the column in the Place Vendome, equally 
by his orders ; for those things were imputed to selfish 
promptings. The Bonapartists, however, were few. 
They did not exist as a party by any external symbols, 
and if alive anywhere were necessarily against him. 
All combined their voices to render Louis Philippe 
unpopular, and draw down upon him suspicion and 
hatred. At a great reform banquet held at the ' 
Chateau Bougie, near Paris, where more than a 
thousand persons were said to be at the tables, and 
among them many members of the Chamber of De- I 
puties, the acts of the Government since 1830 were I 
sweepingly condemned, and every unfavourable impli- I 
cation was embodied against the King- that ingenuity I 
could work up or party inflame. I heard of affiliated 
societies throughout the country, simultaneous move- 
ments in which were to take place on his death as the J 
signal ; for it seemed admitted that his own reign was 1 
not to be disturbed. At his death the movement was \ 
to come on ) none professing to know what was to follow 






OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 425 

or who be uppermost. I heard of a society in Paris 
holding- nocturnal meetings where the sons of peers 
might be seen, and denunciations heard against the 
king and whole polic} r of his government, sometimes in 
in terms polished but significant , at others in the 
French vernacular. 

Seeking for the causes of all this, I was brought to 
a stand. Were they real? If so, where should I find 
the proofs of so many and such grave accusations ? 
It was not for me to take sides with any of the par- 
ties in France. I was only a looker-on. I desired 
to make my inquiries in that spirit, "Was France 
going* down ? was her prosperity undermined ? was 
taxation weighing* ruinously or heavily upon her ? had 
her poor increased ? where was I to look for signs of 
depression and misery ? Or was the King* a tyrant, or 
trained in a school of idleness or vice, or g-oaded on by 
a guilty ambition because looking* to the continuance 
of his dynasty? Were the laws neglected, or the 
people tong-ue-tied ? On the contrary, the King* and 
his Ministers were g-overning* through the laws. The 
press was abundantly free, as witnessed by the un- 
sparing* attacks upon the King 1 , his Ministers, and 
measures. If I looked to the country, instead of the 
newspapers, or speeches at political banquets, I should 
have thought I had come to a country abounding* in 
prosperity of every kind and full of contentment. 
France appeared as well off as could be expected of 
any country where opulence, prosperity and power, 
existing on a large scale, must have drawbacks. None 
seemed to doubt that her agriculture had improved, 
and perhaps never was as good as at present ; that 
her manufactures flourished and were flourishing* ; 
and it was shown, by statistical returns, that her 



426 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

foreign commerce and internal trade had been advanc- 
ing- more rapidly during- the present reign, than for half 
a century anterior. Production was everywhere in- 
creasing, and tranquillity everywhere prevailed. If 
alleged that a large army kept her tranquil by being- 
ready to enforce the laws, though of their effective 
execution otherwise I heard no complaints, the army 
she maintained was not larg*er in proportion than that 
of other great continental Powers, upon whom she 
had to keep watch, as they kept watch on her. If 
taxes were heavier than sometimes when Napoleon was 
in his glory, they derived no aid, as then, from the 
contributions of conquered states to his military chest 
and other wants of his Imperial Treasury ; besides 
that taxes in this King's time have been augmented by 
calls for gTeat public works, which when completed, 
will add to the permanent riches and strength of 
France ; as the fortifications round Paris, recently 
constructed at heavy cost, will add to its security. 
The loan of three hundred and fifty millions of francs 
raised to make good the Government's portion of the 
money to be applied towards the public works, had 
shown the pecuniary ability of the country, in the fact 
that more than a thousand millions of francs were sup- 
plied by individual subscription and payments. 

The increase of Paris had been great and striking 
during his reign. All agreed to this. Entire new 
streets and avenues were built up. Ancient gardens 
had given place to rows of lofty houses. The Champs 
Elysees, rural in appearance a few years ago, were 
fast becoming part of the city. Other parts, old or 
unsightly, had been renovated and improved ; so that, 
with all that Napoleon did for Paris, this King, it was 
said, had done more, except in setting up trophies of 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 4*37 

war. He had asked for no new Palace. He had, in 
effect, divested himself of them all. He no longer 
used Versailles as a residence for himself, or any of 
his family ; but had converted it, partly at his own 
expense, into a g*rand museum, where memorials of 
the history of France, her statesmen, warriors, king's, 
philosophers, authors, poets, her names of renown in 
all fields, from the earliest times to the present, may 
be seen and their examples studied. 

Her electoral law is very bad. It is a contrast to 
much else indicating* advancement and liberality. Two 
hundred thousand voters for choosing" the whole repre- 
sentative body of a nation so populous, spirited and 
free, was a mockery upon representation. Yet it is 
not very long- since free England chose her House of 
Commons by voters not greatly exceeding these in 
number; and if the meliorations brought about in 
France of late, formed any rule for the future, it might 
not unreasonably be inferred that the number of her 
electors would in good time be adequately enlarged, to 
meet the new age she was in and her own wishes for a 
better electoral law. England petitioned and clamored 
for parliamentary reform, and continued to abuse her 
rulers for not granting* it, more than half a century 
before getting- what she now has. 

The King- is beset with complications and dangers. 
This must be the case with any King- of France. It 
is difficult to be king* and republican on the same 
throne. The French are not the people they were. 
They have made large steps forward in political free- 
dom; the ultimate fruits of the old revolution, and of 
the constitutional governments or charters under which 
they have lived since the revolution. They are bold 
and impulsive. They will find fault with their rulers, 



428 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

when there is cause and when there is not. Thus does 
England forever. Take any period of her prosperity ; 
and the opposition, in Parliament and out of Parlia- 
ment, stoutly deny it all. They make out that she is 
oppressed, ground down by taxation and debt, with 
ruin staring* her in the face, from which nothing* can 
save her but turning- out the ministers. So act the 
United States under party spirit. You can always 
prove any amount of corruption, folly, and every thing" 
bad in government, if you adopt the outcry of the op- 
position. If Louis Philippe desires to perpetuate his 
dynasty, what King* w*ould not ? What did Napoleon 
do for his family ? or rather what was it that he did 
not do for all of them ? And if Louis Philippe aims 
at continuing* one of his sons on the throne, b}' striving* 
to make the country prosperous by a pacific policy, 
after the exhausting* wars France has g*one through, 
is that wrong* ? His sons are not drones. They have 
been w^ell educated, are said to be intellig"ent, and 
known to be brave. One charg*e ag*ainst the King* is, 
that he appointed the Duke d'Aumale Governor of 
Alg'eria, because he w r as his son ; forgetting* that 
among* his qualifications is the gallantry he conspi- 
cuously displayed, in fighting* against the fierce and 
warlike natives of that land. 

I cannot close without a g*lance at the Spanish | 
marriage question as ming-ling* with French politics 
since I have been here. Some think war may g*row 
out of it between France and England, involving* half 
the world before it ends, the United States with the 
rest ; for to that it might come in case of war. I am 4 
not of this way of thinking*. France would not begin ) 
it ) and is it to be imagined that England would stir 
up a war for such a cause ; excite its flames because 



i 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 429 

an ancient treaty* interdicted such a marriage ; when, 
since that day, France and England have so changed 
places in America, Asia, throughout the globe and 
upon the ocean, as hardly to recognise each other, 
from the preponderating gains of England ? That the 
latter, with her sagacity, would provoke war for such 
a phantom, seems incredible. The bare idea of it may 
well excuse sensibility in Louis Philippe. 

The foregoing thoughts are hazarded with all dis- 
trust, but in all sincerity. The substance of them has 
been distinctly imparted to my government \ more ex- 
tended on some points, less so on others. 

December 28. Yesterday the King opened both 
the Chambers in person by a speech, which he read. 
I witnessed the ceremony from the box allotted to the 
foreign ministers. Official persons, civil and military, 
in great number, the appearance of the national guard 
and troops, with other pageantry, made up an im- 
posing array ; and good order prevailed. When the 
Queen entered the chamber, she was greeted with ex- 
clamations of Vive la Heine ! Vive la Eeine ! The 
King when he came ascended a platform, richly car- 
peted to receive him. As he approached his chair, 
under a canopy facing the peers and deputies, they 
all rose, as did all within the chamber. Vive le Eoi ! 
broke from all parts of the assemblage. When he 
acknowledged this by bowing, the same exclamations 
were renewed. He then proceeded to read the speech. 

It was not long, but comprehensive. Scarcity of 
food no longer affected the country ; France had not 
felt, as severely as some other States, the late com- 
mercial shocks \ the great public works were advancing, 
and, with the co-operation of the Chambers, would go 

* Treaty of Utrecht, a.d. 1713. 



430 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

on, and in their completion, open new sources of pros- 
perity to the whole kingdom ; the receipts would 
cover the expenditures under all the ordinary heads ; 
the duty on salt would be reduced, and the postage 
on letters lessened ; the relations of France with 
foreign Powers inspired a confidence that the peace of 
the world would not be interrupted, — these were among 
the things announced. He said, the more he advanced 
in life, the more did he feel it his duty to consecrate 
to the service of his country all the energy still left to 
him • in the midst of agitation and blind passion, he 
was supported by the conviction that France possessed, 
in her constitutional monarchy, the means of sur- 
mounting all obstacles, and satisfying all the material 
and moral interests of her people ; and he concluded 
with exhorting all to join in maintaining social order 
and public liberty as guaranteed by the charter. 

1848. 

January 8. Attended M. Guizot's reception last 
night. One of the ministers told me that the famous 
Arab chieftain, Abd-el-Kader, who so long stood out 
against the French arms in Algeria, was about to 
come to Paris, under permission from the French 
Government; but that it would not allow him to go 
to Egypt, which was his desire. 

The late letter of the Duke of Wellington, on the 
little difficulty the French would have in landing' an 
army on the shores of England with the aid of steam, 
was spoken of in the rooms. I talked about it with 
two Englishmen who were present, who both regretted 
its publication. It was addressed to a general in the 
British service, Sir John Burgoyne, written with no 
view to publication ; but by some mischance got into 
print. The veteran warrior unbosoms himself to his | 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 431 

military friend, and seems to do it with a comprehen- 
sive eye. Something', perhaps, is to be set down to 
the account of the duke's uneasy feeling* at seeing- his 
country less prepared than he thinks she ought to be. 
Yet one of the Englishmen drew hope from what the 
duke himself says in the letter : namely, that if the 
army were increased by as much as half a million 
would pay for; and militia organized and trained to 
the number of 150,000, he would himself, with all the 
modern facilities for transporting- and con centra ting- 
troops, be willing- to engage for the defence of England 
on her own ground. 

January — . Yesterday we dined at Mrs. Haight's, 
of New York, now residing- in Paris ; a dinner kindly 
given to us. The company, Americans, French and 
English; so well composed as to make the whole 
evening' pass off very agreeably. 

January 9. This evening I dined at the Duke de 
Cazes' Grand Beferendar} T of France. The dinner very 
large, consisting chiefly of official persons. English 
gentlemen were there, the Duke having formerly been 
French Ambassador in London. 

M. Guizot was of the company. I spoke to him on 
the case of Brown, a seaman from Boston, confined in 
jail in Pans on a heavy criminal charge, on whose 
behalf I had already written an official note to the 
French Government. I intercede for him informally 
by a few words before g'oino- into dinner. I admit 
that appearances are against him \ but that,, on examin- 
ing the particulars of his case, I found extenuating- 
circumstances, as they struck me ; and I plead for 
mercy. The minister says he will consider the case, 

January 16. Dined yesterday at the Prussian Min- 
ister's; Baron D'Arnim. The Diplomatic Corps in 



432 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

large number, nearly all the French Ministers, and 
other persons of prominence, made up the distinguished 
company. 

In the drawing-room I had conversation aside with 
two official persons, which' had reference to some of 
the public men here. Want of time alone would pre- 
vent a memorandum of it. It was very piquant ; and 
these things had often better not be written down. 
Our host, besides being* distinguished as a diplomatist 
and otherwise, was so obligingly courteous to me, in 
my early intercourse with the Diplomatic Corps here, 
that I cannot forbear this mention of it. 

January 20. Last night we were at M. Guizot's 
reception. Next we went to the Countess of Sand- 
wich's, and afterwards to the Turkish Ambassador's. 
M. Guizot told me that Brown, the Boston seaman, 
would be liberated. " He is a bad fellow, we fear," he 
said • "but, from the report of the case to me, there 
are some extenuating circumstances \ and we desire to 
give every consideration to your wishes." I thanked 
him ; and so ends that case. 

January 27. At the Tuileries last night. King, 
Queen, and royal family present] the assemblage a 
very large one — peers, deputies, and many others, 
attending in full number. All were in black, except 
military officers and others in official costume, under a 
court mourning for Madame Adelaide, the King's 
sister, who died the last of December. When this 
event took place, cards were already out from the 
King for a grand dinner to the Diplomatic Corps and 
high officers of State, as is usual at the Tuileries at the 
beginning of the } T ear. But the dinner was imme- 
diately given up by countermanding* notices to us all. 

Last nio*ht was the first occasion of our reassem- 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 43o 

bling* at the Palace since this death occurred. The 
King- having- spoken to ine, as to others of the Diplo- 
matic Corps, I afterwards passed on into another 
room, preparatory to going- home. AVhile talking' with 
a g-entleman there, a message came to me by the Duke 
de Rochefoucault, one of the aides of the King-, 
informing* me that the King* wished to see me. I re- 
turned with the duke to the room where he still was. 
His Majesty at once opened a conversation about our 
affairs in Mexico. u How do you go on with Mexico 
now, Mr. Eush V 9 the King* asked. I took the grounds 
I had formerly taken, reinforcing* them under new 
points presented in the President's message to Congress 
since my last conversation with His Majesty. In this 
conversation, the King seemed to be awake, for the 
first time, to the success of our arms. He said nothing* 
of our inability to take and hold the country, which I 
said we should probably do, until the altered tone of 
Mexico would justify us in relaxing our hold. The 
King heard my remarks without making any comment ; 
but did not swerve from his doctrines of moderation 
and peace. He brought the conversation to a close 
by reiterating his confidence in the wisdom and policy 
of that course for all nations in the present improving- 
state of the world. 

January 29. We were at a musical party last night 
at Mme. Hottinguer's, where Castellan sings. We 
went afterwards to a similar party at the Countess of 
Sandwich's, where we heard Alboni and Persiani, two 
other fashionable singers. 

January 30. Dined yesterday at the Turkish Am- 
bassador's. The dinner immense — sixty probably at 
table, if not more * the whole French Cabinet, as far 
as I could observe ; the whole Diplomatic Corps, with 

2 f 



434 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 

other official persons, and persons not official, but pro- 
minent otherwise. The Ambassador and his suite re- 
ceived the company, as all were successively announced, 
with a dignity and grace very striking'. The whole 
arrangements of the dinner were according- to European 
forms ; and no dinner of the same size could have gone 
off better. 

February 2. We were last night at the reception 
of Count and Countess de Circourt ; he known to high 
public and scientific men in Paris, and the friend and 
^correspondent of our Prescott \ the Countess's conver- 
sation and accomplishments contributing- to draw the 
best intercourse to their rooms. We were often there, 
and derived pleasure otherwise from their society ; and 
I, advantag-e also, from his familiarity with French 
affairs, and his kindly manner of imparting- his know- 
ledge of them. 

February 9. We were last night at a ball at the 
Austrian Ambassador's, Count d'Appony; the rooms 
brilliantly filled, the Countess d'Appony doing the 
honours of the night most graciously ; the supper and 
whole entertainment very distingue. 

February 12. And last night we had a similar 
entertainment at the British Embassy, the domicil 
being even larger. A thousand or twelve hundred 
were in the rooms, it was supposed. Dancing con- 
tinued until a late hour. The ample arrangements for 
the supper and refreshments accommodated all j and 
the Marchioness of Normanby seemed not to tire in 
her attentions to all. 

February 14. We were this evening at M. Jolli- 
vet's, a member of the Chamber of Deputies; the 
apartments small, but fitted up beautifully. Nowhere 
that we go in Paris do we see rooms alike. All differ 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 435 

in appearance and decorations ; yet all please the eye. 
Mr. Walsh was one of the company. I talk with him 
on French affairs. He thinks the Ministry in danger. 
I listen the more to him, from his knowledge of France 
and some of her chief public men. He is full of in- 
formation, derived from a long* residence here. 

February — . Dined with the Minister of Marine, 
the Duke de Montebello. The company large and 
official. The members of the French Cabinet were 
announced by their titles of office, as at the dinner of 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Napoleon's career 
makes known to us the origin of our entertainer's 
hereditary title, which he wears so becomingly. He 
is established in a fine hotel. The same may be said 
of all the residences of the French Cabinet — the Go- 
vernment providing them. 

After dinner, I go to the reception of the Minister 
of Finance ; after that, to M. Guizot's. 

February 18. Dined yesterday at M. Sauzet's, 
the President of the Chamber of Deputies ; a large 
official dinner, at which the Foreign and Home 
Ministers were all, I believe, present, with many 
others. 

I sat next to M. Guizot, and was led to speak of 
our prospects in the Pacific since our successes in 
Mexico. I alluded to the Mediterranean as a 
"French Lake," according to Napoleon's term, and 
to Selden's " Mare Clausum," as doctrine the English 
liked. The Minister said little under these heads, but 
what he did say harmonized with the King's policy ; — 
peace, and no aggression. 

February 20. At the Tuileries last night, where 
there was a large assemblage. Many persons of rank 
and power were distinguishable in the rooms. 

2 f 2 



436 COURT AND GOVERNMENT 






Amidst the restraints usual at the Palace, it was, 
nevertheless, observable that conversation seeming" to 
be earnest, in subdued tones, was going* on in little 
groups, where Cabinet Ministers and military officers 
might be recognised. The King, not far from whom I 
was standing, advanced to me, and alluding to the 
approaching banquet in Paris, expressed himself thus : 
u Order will be maintained. The Government has 
taken every precaution, and we are under no appre- 
hension." 

Leaving that subject, and referring to the rumour 
that General Scott was under arrest and suspended 
from his command in Mexico, the King remarked 
that he knew nothing of the causes for this step ; but 
that his military operations appeared to have been 
skilful, and certainly the results must earn him glory 
with his country as achievements of war. 

February 21. At a reception of M. Thiers's last 
night. It was small, but full of interest from the 
topics we had, and the character and conversation of 
this remarkable Deputy, Financier, Parliamentary 
debater, and Historian. 

February 22. We were last night at an invited 
party at the Duchess de Eochefoucault's. The Diplo- 
matic Corps were there, and others. The party not 
large, but very agreeable. The Eeform banquet, so 
close at hand, was spoken of ; but no one seemed under 
any uneasiness. 

From this party we go to a large ball at the Prince 
de Ligne's, the Belgian Ambassador. The whole 
Parisian world of fashion seemed to be there. Not the 
Arab chief himself, Abd-el-Kader, but one of his train, 
was seen among the circles, richly dressed in the cos- 
tume of his native land. He was pallid and silent: 



OF LOUIS PHILIPPE. 437 

but a wounded restless spirit was discernible in his dark 
eye. The glitter of a European ball was evidently 
lost upon him. The banquet was talked of in inter- 
missions of the dance, but in no feeling* of apprehension, 
and I continue to hear that the Government feels con- 
fident that order will be maintained. 



February 23. A Revolution has come like a 
thunder-clap. All Paris in consternation \ barricades, 
troops, cannon, mobs, cavalry in quick movement, 
some in full gallop, wheeling' into one street and issuing 
from another ; numerous heads looking- out from upper 
windows in amazement. 

I went to the office of the Legation, Rue de 
Matignon, at one o'clock. Crossed the bridge by the 
Tuileries, the one at Place de la Concorde being- blocked 
up by the military. Soldiers and crowds of people all 
along- the streets. Stay half an hour at the office. 
Leave it to go home, the Secretary of Legation, Mr. 
Martin, accompanying- me. First send Mr. Stanton to 
my house the shortest way he can g-et there, to tell my 
daughters not to go out in the carriage. As we turn 
into Eue St. Honore, increasing- crowds are seen, and 
more troops. Some of the people were breaking- lamps. 
As the troops press towards the crowd to keep it back, 
they cry out Vive la Ligne ! the crowd wanting- to 
propitiate the troops by this cry. The distance was 
considerable to my house ; and as we had the river to 
cross, we could only get along slowly. Sometimes the 
crowd obstructed our way entirely. At length we 
reached the archways leading to the bridge by the Tuil- 
eries. Here we found all closed and guarded by troops. 



438 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Mr. Martin makes known that I am the Minister of 
the United States, and desire to get to my house. 
The officer replies that his orders are positive to allow 
no one to pass. It w r as no time to seek a permit from 
the Government. I try a bridge further on, and in 
that way reach home. Evening' w r as now approaching-. 
Mr. Martin left me before I got home to return quickly 
to the office, in case of dangler to the papers of the 
Legation, for all was uproar, and none could say what 
was coming". 

At ten at nig*ht I get a note from the Marchioness 
of Wellesley, written under anxiety to know if I thought 
she wa§ safe in Paris. 

Thursday, the 24th. Here at my residence, Rue 
de Lille, we heard the noise of cavalry through the 
night. Throughout the day (yesterday) our servants 
were bringing' in rumours of firing and bloodshed on the 
other side of the river. All is rumonr and uncertainty. 
People seem stunned. The fighting is said to be in 
the direction of the Boulevards and Montmartre. Mr. 
George Sumner, of Boston, came in to see us, and gave 
graphic accounts of what w r as g'oing on. He said the 
municipal guards were in great odium. This corps 
fights for the King and Ministers. At five o'clock I 
walked over to Hotel Brighton, Rue de Rivoli, to see the 
Marchioness of Wellesle3 T , (originally) of Annapolis, 
Maryland, and grand- daughter of Mr. Carroll. I found 
it hard to get there. Place de la Concorde was lined 
with cavalry and the municipal guards; the latter 
mounted. Cannon was also placed in rang*e. I told 
the Marchioness I thought it mio'ht be best to leave 
Paris, unless she had strong reasons for remaining ; 
but that, if she remained, I would be ready to afford 
her the shelter of my Legation if desired. I caught 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 439 

a rumour, while out, that the Ministers had all resigned, 
M. Guizot alone remaining* until a new ministry could 
be got tog*ether. The Banquet was forbidden at the 
last moment. Hence the suddenness with which the 
bolt fell. At ten at nio-ht I drove over to the office of 
the Legation. Crossed the bridge of the Invalides, 
and met with no obstruction in that quarter. Found 
all safe at the office. 

February 25. The revolutionary movement ad- 
vances with inconceivable rapidity. Fightings blood- 
shed, dismay, everywhere. Constant fighting* all last 
night. All manner of reports. No coming at facts — 
except that the Ministers have certainly resigned. 
Another report is, that the King sent for Count Mole 
yesterday to form a new Ministry \ but that would not 
do, he not being an oppositionist, and the troops of the 
line having* shown reluctance to fire upon the people ; 
some refusing altogether. The national guards would 
not go against the people. In this emergency the 
reports say that General Lamoriciere rode through the 
streets with his aides, declaring in the King's name, 
that Odillon Barrot (prominent in opposition) was to 
form a new ministry, and that M. Thiers would join 
him. Another report is, that the Duchess of Orleans 
had entreated the King to let her accompany, on horse- 
back, Odillon Barrot and M. Thiers through the 
streets, and appeal in person to the 'people \ but the 
Kino; would not consent. 

Friday, the 25th. The belief seems to be that a 
complete Eevolution has been effected, the people having' 
the upper hand everywhere, and none of the troops or 
national guards acting any longer against them . They 
are in possession of the Tuileries, made a bonfire of the 
r King's carriages, the King, Queen and Royal Family 



440 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

escaping* through the gardens. I go to Quai d'Orsay, 
in front of my house ; see the people looking out 
of the Palace windows ; see them throwing furni- 
ture out of the windows ; see them pass by the place 
where I stood. They shout out, with guns and 
sabres in their hands ; they display trophies brought from 
the Palace, such as pates, cooked meats, bread, and 
other eatables. Also caps, artificial flowers, and 
other finery. Soldiers mix in with the people and 
shout too. Some of the soldiers stick loaves of bread 
on the points of their bayonets, holding them up exult- 
ingly. Anxious to know how things are at the Lega- 
tion, I leave my stand at Quai d'Orsay and attempt to 
go there by the bridge of the Invalides, it being im- 
possible to cross any other. I go on foot. Arriving 
at this bridge, I see an immense crowd on the other 
side, women, as well as men, all hallooing, singing', 
dancing, and shouting'. Some are rolling empty wine- 
casks along the ground — so says my servant George, 
who is with me. Others hold them over their heads 
with uplifted arms, sending forth louder shouts and 
playing' off antics, as if inflamed with drink. I do not 
cross the bridge. On this side, broken squads of the 
municipal guard are to be seen riding here and there, 
and detachments of horse artillery hurrying, I know 
not where. All is wild disorganization. I return to my 
house, after being baffled in this attempt to reach the 
office, fatigued and glad to get home. 

At home once more, Mr. Martin comes in with the 
first assurance that every thing is safe at the office of; 
the Legation. He had been out the whole morning-, i 
seeking information. His report is, that the Revolu- 
tion is over 5 that 'the King signed an abdication re- 
luctantly, in favour of the Count de Paris, the Duchess 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 441 

of Orleans to be Regent ; that she had gone to the 
Chamber with the Count de Paris and her other young 
son, the Duke de Nemours, accompanying her ; that 
on her way she was surrounded by the people, who did 
not ill treat her \ that when she first entered the Cham- 
ber, things seemed- somewhat encourao-inof to her, but 
that soon afterwards all was dismay and terror. Odil- 
lon Barrot made a short speech in her favour, or at- 
tempted it, but in vain • the people, with muskets and 
sabres, broke in tumultuously, said it was too late, got 
into the seats of the members, threatened them, pointed 
muskets at them, and drove them out ; Ledru Rollin 
spoke, and Lamartine, but could hardly be heard 
amidst the uproar. That the members fled in different 
directions, some of the opposition members going off 
with the people to the Hotel de Ville, where they set 
up a Provisional Government, proclaiming it to be 
Republican, and calling out the names of the persons 
to form it. That the Duchess of Orleans, with her 
children and the Duke de Nemours, escaped with diffi- 
culty, but were safe ; and that the King* and Queen 
were supposed to have gone to St. Cloud, in the first 
hackney-coach they could find, or gone off by railway to 
Rouen, wishing to reach the coast, and cross to England. 
The rest of the Royal Family had gone, nobody knew 
where. Mr. Martin went on to state that all accounts 
seemed to agree in things having' gone favourably for 
the King as soon -as the people learned that Odillon 
Barrot and Thiers were ministers ; that they considered 
: this the triumph of their cause \ they had carried their 
point over King and ministers, and were rejoicing ; but 
• that afterwards, when the regular troops fired upon the 
■ people from the garden of the Hotel of Foreign Affairs, 
\ the tide turned ; that this firing was not from any 



442 FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

orders of the Government, but through some mistake; 
but it killed a good many of the people in that wide 
street ; exasperated all, and swelled their numbers ten- 
fold. They flew to arms from all quarters ; they neither 
would, nor could, hear explanations when musketry 
and cannon were roaring ; fio'htino-. was renewed with 
double fury ; the Tuileries came near to being- sacked 
before the inmates could escape, and the Monarchy fell 
to pieces. 

I almost ask n^self, Can this be a reality ? Only 
on the night of the twentieth I was at the Tuileries, the 
King, Queen, and Eoyal family feeling secure in fan- 
cied strength. Everv thing- brilliant around them : 
ladies to have graced the highest, or any spheres ; 
functionaries of state, and military officers ; all the 
patronage, all the honours^ of a great monarchy in their 
hands,— its army in their service. So it was a week 
ago. Now the King and Queen are outcasts ; desti- 
tute for the present, and uncertain of their fate. The 
others, all scattered and gone. 

Many Americans call on us to-day under these as- 
tounding* events. We talk them over. Some stay to 
dine with us, Mr. Martin among them * and we have 
Mr. and Mrs, Coppinger, of Boston. At table the 
topics are renewed. We compare notes of the marvel- 
lous rapidity of the movement and its results. Before J 
going* to dinner^ Mrs. Coppinger had assisted in making j 
a Flag of the United States for the Legation. I ex- 
press a hope that no necessity to use it would arise. 
I had never used one, and had none. No outrages on 
private property had as yet been committed, that I had 
heard of, much less on the houses of Foreign Ministers/ 
during the raging of this tempest. On the contrary/ 
it was stated that some of the fighting' bands among 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 443 

the people, on hearing- that thieves had broken into a 
shop to rob it, shot them on the spot. 

February 26. The Bevolution, it would seem, is all 
over. A Provisional Government was proclaimed yes- 
terday, late in the da}', declared to be Bepublican, and 
its members are announced in the morning* papers, as 
follows : viz. Dupont (de I'Eure), Lamartine, Arago, 
Ledru Eollin, Cremieux, Gamier Pages, Marie ; these 
forming- the Executive Head. 

Armand Marrast, Louis Blanc, Flocon, Albert, to 
be Secretaries. 

The Provisional Government by decree appoint 
Dupont (de VEure) President of the Council, without 
portfolio 3 Lamartine, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; 
Cremieux, Minister of Justice; Ledru Eollin, Minister 
of the Interior ; General Bedeau, Minister of War ; 
Goudchaux, Minister of Commerce ; Carnot, Minister 
of Public Instruction ; Marie, Minister of Public 
"Works 3 General Cavaignac, Governor of Algeria ; 
Gamier Pages, Mayor of Paris ; Flotard, Secretary- 
General; Colonel de Courtais, to be Chief in Command 
of the National Guard. These appointments to be 
provisional ; but the persons filling them empowered to 
! act in all things needful. 

Of the foregoing names, some were widely and fa- 
i ivourably known by their writings or otherwise ; and I 
r obtain through one of my countrymen, long a resident 
. n Paris, information as to others as yet less known, 
i , The Provisional Government proceeds to perform as 
Ql nanyof the functions cast upon it as circumstances 
,| will permit. It obtains the allegiance of the Army and 
jjpavy; secures for itself the existing agencies of the 
dilate Government in Paris and throughout the depart- 
i \ nents ; and does other things to impart immediate effi- 



444 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

ciency to its operations. The conduct of Lamartine 
commands admiration from all. Already he has told 
the people, from the front of the Hotel de Ville, 
disregarding- a thousand muskets levelled at him, that 
they should not have the red flag (for which they 
clamoured) as the symbol of the new Eepublic ; but 
the tricolour, which had made the tour of the World 
with glory, while the red flag had only made the tour 
of the Champs de Mars, trailed through torrents ol 
blood. This made the muskets drop, saved Pans from 
horrors, and inspires hope. 

Admiral Baudin accepts the command of the fleet 
The war stores of all kinds at the Ecole Militaire have 
been secured by the new Government ; and courts o: 
law recognize its authority. 

The Bank of France has accepted bills drawn upon 
it, promising their payment in cash at maturity 
Shops are re-opening in Paris 5 and to-day it is stater 
that Baron Eothschild is prepared to fulfil all his en 
gagements towards the heavy loan effected by the la| 
Government. 

Saturday, the 26th. On this same day Majo 
Poussin calls upon me. He makes an earnest appeal 
to me to recognise the new Eepublic in my capacity a 
Minister of the United States, and says it will be cl 
unspeakable service. He believes this-believes 1 
fully ; and knows, is sure, that my appearance at tbJ 
Hotel de Ville to make the recognition in that capaJ 
city, will be very acceptable to the Provisional Goverrj 
ment. He entreats me to take the step : to-day, 
possible; if not, to-morrow. J 

It may be supposed that I was little prepared fc 1 
this call The Eevolution had been sudden in the ei 1 
treme. Hardlv could we believe our eyes in seeing 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 445 

■ Republic ; where a Monarchy stood firm, apparently, a 
[ week ago j and which was only first attacked by force 
'five days ago. Were the barricades yet removed? 
[ 'Frenchmen might think the Republic stood firm $ but 
' could the world believe it ? 

I so expressed myself. Major Poussin tried to 
Jl obviate these objections; putting forward as one 
r ground, that my taking the step, would add immediate 
'strength from abroad to France in her new position. 
1 Would I withhold my aid to Republicanism? Did 
I not wish well to that cause ? Yes : he was sure 
•'I did. 

I did, was my answer ; but that was not the point 
between us. Other considerations must be weighed. 
I had no notice, as Minister of the United States even 
Nbf the existence of the Provisional Government. With- 
out that notice, to say no more, could I in my official 
capacity take any step ? 

He thought forms might be overlooked in a case of 
Ct such magnitude, giving* some of his reasons; and, in 
connection with them, told me that the members of the 
M Provisional Government had been agreed upon the 
a; ° night preceding the day they were announced at the 
b Hotel de Ville, viz., last Wednesday night. I need 
01 not repeat all he said on that head. 
I Our interview closed by my telling him I would re- 
, fleet on the subject, and that he should hear from me. 
Nun the course of the interview, he mentioned new facts, 
to show the energy with which the Provisional Govern- 
ment was acting, and how fast all classes were giving 
in their adhesion to it. 

The subject of Major Poussin's visit was not new to 
52 my thoughts, though his visit was unexpected. My 
! \ surmise was, that he had not come without the know- 



446 FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

ledge of the Provisional Government, but for obvious 
reasons, had no authorhry to say so. I reflected on the 
situation I was placed in. I had previously known 
Major Poussin as an honourable Frenchman. When 
a young- man, then in the French army, he accompa- 
nied General Bernard to the United States, soon after 
Napoleon's downfall. The fame and abilities of Gene- 
ral Bernard, as a high officer in the engineer branch 
of Napoleon's service commended him to my Govern- 
ment, for the superintendence and construction of works 
belonging to our national defences ; and Major, then 
Captain, Poussin was his young 1 assistant in those im- 
portant operations. He then became a naturalized 
citizen of the United States ; and I knew him then. 
He was on all accounts entitled to my esteem ; and I 
was in the best personal relations with him in Paris, 
before the Eevolutionary tornado which brought him 
to me on this anxious errand for his country. Still, 
my own judgment was to guide my steps. The re- 
sponsibilities of my public station were upon me. 
What would my Country expect from me ? and what 
did I owe to my Country under this emergency? 
These were the questions I was to deal with. 

I did not view the King's Government, just over- 
thrown, as did the opposition to it among the French. 
I was aloof from their party conflicts. To have mingled 
in them would have been improper. I was as a neutral. 
I desired to think well of the late Government, rather 
than ill. I aimed at conciliating it in all just ways, as 
befitting the diplomatic trust, and as tending to shed a 
g'ood influence on my steps as Minister, when seeking 
to serve in France my Country and countr} r men. As 
long as the King* was on the throne, I felt the pro- 
priety of this course, and pursued it. But the French 






FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 447 

-people were themselves the arbiters of the conduct of 
their Government, and the sole judges of what form of 
Government they would have. Whether a majority 
of them could have had opportunities of expressing* a 
preference for a Eepublic, in the first moments after 
the Monarchy fell, was not an inquiry for me to pro- 
pound. The United States were a Republic. It was 
their rule, in all their foreign intercourse, to acknow- 
ledge every new Government abroad, when seen to 
exist de facto, without inquiring by what means it was 
set up or what its form. I might be thought hasty in 
inferring; the new Government of France to be a 
Government de facto, so very soon ; yet it was appa- 
rent to me, as to all, that it was exercising the actual 
powers of Government, in ways the most telling, with 
none to thwart it. No party, no class, was moving 
against it. All seemed to acquiesce, silently, if not 
share the enthusiasm that was rallying all to its sup- 
port, Would it be right or expedient in me to wait 
for instructions before recognising it ? A month, or 
more, must elapse before instructions could reach me. 
Was it for me to be backward, when Fran.ce ap- 
peared to be looking- to us ? The Nation whose blood 
flowed with ours in our Revolution, and whose S} r mpa- 
thies in our cause were still a tradition, ever ready to 
excite our sympathies for her ? Most especially would 
these spring into life, when she announced herself to the 
world as a Republic. I could not be blind to the satis- 
faction with which our People would regard her great 
name as enlisted on the side of Republicanism. True, 
I looked anxiously on so great a Republican experi- 
ment. Yet I was unwilling to scrutinize too closely, 
.at first, the considerations which might seem at war 
•with the hope of its full success. I therefore felt it my 



448 FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

duty, after weighing- every consideration, to lend my 
^Representative name towards cheering it on. I be- 
lieved I should have the approbation of the Govern- 
ment and people of the United States by anticipating 
instructions. The old feeling of good will towards 
France was still so much in the American heart, that 
the formularies of diplomacy, founded in good sense 
for the most part, would be grudgingly accepted as an 
excuse for lukewarmness in their Minister when France 
had started up before his eyes as a Eepublic. They 
would hail its first birth, and hope for the best after- 
wards. With the more reason would they do this, when 
so much of the high intellect, so many of the good names 
and a portion of the great names, of France, were seen 
to go with the Eepublic from the beginning. 

Thoughts like these decided me to act, not instantly 
but promptly. Before the dinner-hour, I walked over 
to the office of the Legation. The Secretary of Lega- 
tion was there, and two of my countrymen : one, Mr. 
Corbin, of Virginia; the other, my friend and fellow- 
townsman from Philadelphia, Mr. Eidgway. I im- 
parted to them my decision, with a summary of the 
reasons ; adding, that I would forbear recognition 
until hearing from M. Lamartine that he is the organ 
of the new Government with foreign Powers. From 
the office of Legation I go to Major Poussin, Mr. 
Corbin accompanying me. I inform him of my deter- 
mination, and that the time will have arrived for acting 
upon it when I am informed thatM. Lamartine repre- 
sents the Provisional Government in its intercourse 
with other nations. Major Poussin is unable to give 
me any present assurance on this pointy but supposes 
there will be no difficulty. We talk about it, he 
zealously urging the great importance of the step ; I 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 449 

remarking 1 on the propriety of what I have said about 
M. de Lamartine. 

Sunday, February 27. Appreciating" the enlight- 
ened mind of our consul, Mr. Walsh, I communicate 
to him, in a personal interview, the course I am about 
; to take. He concurs with me in the propriety of the 
! step. 

Unwilling* to take it without the knowledge of the 
Diplomatic Corps, not one of whom had I seen since 
the Revolutionary whirlwind, I determine to inform 
the English Ambassador, and, after my interview with 
Mr. Walsh, I call on the Marquis of Normanb} r . Meet- 
ing* Mr. Martin on the way, I invite him to g*o with me. 
His well-trained judg*ment, concurring* with that of 
Mr. Walsh in the propriety of the course I had re- 
solved on, gives me the united voice of my Legation 
in its favour. 

■ I found Lord Normanby at home. On the first 
.intimation of my object, he mentioned what the morn- 
ing papers had announced, but what I had not seen ; 
namely, that I had already acknowledged the Provi- 
sional Government. I told him it was not the case, 
[but that I was about to do so; perhaps to-morrow. 
i ijt was not agreeable to me, I said, to separate myself 
lifrom my colleagues of the Diplomatic Corps on this 
,, occasion, even temporarily, as would probably be the 
.^case ; but I would not place myself in that situation 
^without giving* them information, and trusted to 
. r their liberal estimate of my position for rightly view- 
ing the step I was about to take. I was too far off 
e^rom my country to wait for instructions.* Before 
iphey could arrive, events here might show that I had 

* There were no Atlantic Telegraphs in those days. 



450 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

fallen into undue delay. The Provisional Government 
proclaimed a Republic as the Government of France. 
France was our early friend and ally, when we were 
struggling* for admission into the family of nations. 
She had now proclaimed a Government like ours ; 
and my belief was that my Government would expect 
me to be prompt in acknowledging' it. These were 
the considerations appealing* to me in the present 
exigency. It was to this general effect I made known 
my intention ; adding*, that I came to him first, from 
the great intercourse between our two countries; as 
well as from my personal relations with himself. 

It was plain that the English Ambassador had not 
expected such a communication from me. He asked 
if I designed it merely as a communication of my in- 
tention, and nothing- more ; or whether I wished the 
expression of any opinions from him. I said I should 
be happy to hear any opinions he would express. 
He then said, that as to my distance, it was indeed 
peculiar to my case ; neither upon that, or the other 
considerations so which I had adverted, was it for 
him to offer any opinion ; it was for me alone to attach 
to them whatever weight I thought fit. But other- 
wise my course, he must sa}~, struck him as unusual. 
What was the Provisional Government ? Had I yet 
received any information from itself of its own exis- 
tence ? He had not, and presumed that not one of 
the Diplomatic Corps had. Would I, under such 
circumstances, separate myself from them ? Would 
it not be better that we should act in concert ; see our 
senior, the Marquis Brignoli, confer with him and 
others, that we might know each others' views? 
Where would I go to make my acknowledgment?. 
To whom address myself, in the absence of all noti- 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 451 

fication from the true and proper organ of com- 
munication between the new Government and foreign 
Powers 1 

The foregoing- embraces the substance of his re- 
marks ; which were enlarged upon and urged, as 
decidedly as an amicable manner and tone would 
allow. Our interview closed by my saving that 
what had fallen from him had not escaped my thoughts, 
and was reasonable in itself; and that I did not 
design to take the step until receiving' a suitable 
communication from the Provisional Government of 
its own existence. 

From the English Embassy I go to our own office 
of Legation. While there, Mr. Martin, who w r ent in 
another direction on first lea vino- the English Embassy 
with me, comes in, and says he hears that M. de La- 
martime is now preparing* an official note, announcing 
to the Foreign Ambassadors and Ministers the exis- 
tence of the new Government, and that he is now the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs. I request Mr. Martin to 
write a line in my name to Major Poussin, telling' him 
what he has heard. Before the day closes, the official 
note to me from M. de Lamartine arrives at my house 
corroborating the above. Its date is Sunday, the 27th. 

This seems a fit occasion for saying, that an es- 
teemed colleague of the Corps from South America, 
called on me as soon as the Provisional Government 
was formed, to learn my intentions as to recognising* 
the new Republic. I told him it was my intention 
to recognise it at a period as early as I could properly 
see my way to that course. His motive in inquiring 
was, that he might prepare himself for following my 
example ; and this, he presumed, would be the case 
(though he did not speak for them) with the other 

2a2 



452 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Diplomatic Representatives from South America ac- 
credited to the Government just overthrown. 

Tuesda} T , Februaiy 29th. The official communica- 
tion from M. de Lamartine having" o-iven me the authen- 
tic document I desired, I ) T esterday proceeded to the 
Hotel de Ville, to perform the duty I had resolved 
upon. I wore my diplomatic dress, and requested the 
Secretary of Legation, whom I took with me, to wear 
his. I also invited Major Poussin to a seat in my 
carriage, as a naturalized citizen of the United States, 
as well as Frenchman, possessing*, as I believed, the 
confidence of the Provisional Government. I arrived 
at the Hotel de Ville at two o'clock. Persons were 
inside, waiting receptions, or business otherwise to be 
transacted with the Provisional Government. These 
came to a pause when I was announced. 

Conducted into the room where the Provisional 
Government was sitting', I addressed myself to its 
President and Members, Irv saying* ; that, too distant 
from my Country to wait instructions, I sought the 
first opportunity of offering- my felicitations, to the 
Provisional Government, believing that my own Go- 
vernment would transmit to me its sanction of the 
early step I was taking ; that the remembrance of the 
ancient friendship and alliance which once joined 
together France and the United States, was still 
strong among* us ; that the cry would be loud and 
universal in my Countiy for the prosperity and great- 
ness of France under the new institutions she had pro- 
claimed, subject to ratification b}^ the national will • 
that, under similar institutions, the United States had 
enjoyed a long- course of prosperity 5 that their insti- 
tutions had been stable; and while they left to all 
other countries the choice of their own forms of 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 453 

government, they would naturally rejoice to see this 
great nation flourish under forms like their own, which 
had been found to unite social order with public liberty. 
I concluded with a repetition of the hope General 
"Washington expressed to the French Minister, Aclet, 
at Philadelphia, in 1796 : — that the " friendship of the 
two Republics might be commensurate with their ex- 
istence. " 

M. Arago, on the part of the Provisional Govern- 
ment, replied, that its members received without 
surprise, but with lively pleasure, the assurance of the 
sentiments I expressed ) France expected them from 
an ally to whom she now drew so close by the pro- 
clamation of a Republic ; he thanked me, in the name 
of the Provisional Government, for the wishes I had 
expressed for the prosperity and greatness of France, 
and concluded by responding to the words I had re- 
called of the great founder of our Republic. 

The venerable Dupont de l'Eure, official head of 
the Government, and eighty years of age, then ap- 
proached me. Taking me by the hand, he said ; 
" Permit me, in thus taking you by the hand, to assure 
you that the French people grasp that of the American 
nation." 

The ceremony here ended. .Three members of the 

Provisional Government accompanied me to the out- 

i side door of the Hotel de Ville. The guard presented 

1 arms. Loud cries of Vive la Republique des Etats- 

Unis ! were heard. The building is one of the 

largest in Paris. Crowds were in front and all around 

it when I drove up. These had not diminished as I was 

coming away, and their renewed shouts of Vive la 

I Repuhlique des JEtats- Unis ! went up freely. 



454 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

March 1. My address to the Provisional Govern- 
ment appeared in the French newspapers of yesterday. 
It was not for me to publish it. I was only to 
transmit it to my own Government. My answer to 
M. de Lamartine's official communicaticn of the 27th 
of February, which informed me of his being- charged 
with the duties of the Foreign Office, has also ap- 
peared in the newspapers, equally without my instru- 
mentality. 

This being' reception-day at my house, large numbers 
of our countiymen and others call upon us. Among 1 
the latter, Count de Circourt. He gives me the whole 
account of de Lamartine's triumph over the votaries of 
the red flag* at the Hotel de Ville. He called it a 
critical and noble triumph. A savant; a man of 
letters ; a patriot full of anxious hopes for his country, 
his words and manner were impressive. He gave de- 
tails of the revolution which I had not heard before. 
All pointed to favourable changes in the French people, 
from the frenzies and cruelty of their old Revolution, 
when Queens were killed with frantic joy ; religion 
tumbled down to enthrone a Goddess of Reason ; cart- 
loads of victims daily sent to the guillotine ; or tied 
back to back and thrown with horrid profanations into, 
the Seine. My own entries of facts occurring* during the; 
clays and nights of the Revolution, as derived from the 
Secretary of Legation, and my own opportunities of 
observation, were not contradicted by his details. I 
let them remain, therefore, as noted down, with only 
verbal corrections and no amplication, it being no part 
of my intention to write a full history of this Revolu- 
tion, and willing to hope that it may disclose, in its 
further progress, as much improvement over the old 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 18J:8. 455 

' one in rational liberty, as it has thus far shown in 
humanity.* 

* In recognizing the Frencli Republic, in the manner he did,, 
under the novel circumstances then existing, the Author acted, as 
he should have done, under a high sense of duty, as Representative 
I of his Country, whatever may have been his individual judgment 
in reference to the great convulsion then going on. It was not 
long before he had heavy misgivings as to the result ; as the writer 
of this well remembers, and events soon justified them. 

In connection with this, the following extract from a Pamphlet 
by the Author, published in Philadelphia not long afterwards, 
; entitled "Character of Mr. Calhoun," (Vice-President of the U.S. 
who died in 1850), may not be without interest now, in 1872, 
with the fresh remembrance of another Revolution in France, and 
in the existing condition of French politics. The Pamphlet forms 
part of his " Occasional Productions, Politicpl, Diplomatic, and 
Miscellaneous," referred to in the Addendum to the Preface to 
this Volume : — 

" Of all Americans, he was among the few not carried away by 
the great shock in Europe in 1848. That our citizens should 
1 have given the French Republic a cordial first welcome, and that 
j both Houses of Congress should have done the same, was natural ; 
but in his place as Senator, in the midst of enthusiasm for France, 
Calhoun paused. He did not believe that by suddenly " proclaim- 
ing" Republics, they were to be made. He knew that change was 
I not always for the better, and when too rapid could scarcely be 
good. He knew all excellence to be of slow growth, with nations 
as persons ; that it comes of patience, education, and long training. 
- His mind, full of light, inferred that such quick convulsive move- 
j ments in the other hemisphere, must be the work, with rare 
j exceptions, of a few selfish or deluded men in some places, and, 
I in others, of what Lord John Russell called, in the House of 
" Commons, " a society of circulating revolutionists." The real 
'' masses, he believed, would be placed by so violent an overthrow 
1 of existing things in a worse condition than they were before. 
. He saw also that these suddenly " proclaimed" Republics were 
j totally different from ours. His knowledge of the Constitution 
of the United States, and everything that led to the establish- 
ment of our Republic, taught him this. He believed that the 
inherent tendencies of Republics starting into life instantaneously, 



456 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

March 2. The Archbishop of Paris, in an address 
to the clergy, holds up the duty of obedience to the 
Provisional Government, and orders the colours of the 
Eepublic to be placed in their churches. 

The Nuncio of Pope Pius the Ninth, resident in 
Paris under the Monarchy, in a letter to M. de La- 
in artine has expressed his profound satisfaction at the 
respect shown by the people of Paris to religion, in 
the midst of the great events that have been accom- 
plished; and his conviction that the Holy Father 
would call down in all his prayers the blessings of 
God on France. The letter was in answer to M. de 
Lamartine's communication informing him, as he had 
the other foreign representatives, that the Provisional 
Government had clothed him with the functions of 
Minister of Foreign Affairs. This letter of the Nuncio 
— the same who represented the Pope, while the King 
was on the throne, — is regarded as equivalent to a 
recognition of the Republic by His Holiness, and, it is 
thought, will not be without its influence with large 
classes. 

The turbulent times bring up the ex-King of West- 
phalia, Jerome Bonaparte. He has addressed a letter 
to the Provisional Government. He asks that a 
decree may ba issued by the Republic to annul the i 
proscription imposed on his name by foreign Powers 

were to disorder. He feared their deteriorating influences upon 
us. More especially did he fear it from our predisposition sum- 
marily to applaud all movements against existing authority in 
Europe, no matter what their nature, or who their instruments. 
He appreciated too much the immense value of our own institu- 
tions, to behold without grief the danger of disparagement to 
them by the odium likely to be brought upon Republics through 
the abuses of that word abroad." — Bustis Occasional Productions, 
pp. 108-9. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 457 

in alliance with the Bourbons, the Revolution having 
destroyed the treaties of 1815. 

The Revolution also brings before the world a letter 
from another of the Bonaparte family, Prince Louis 
Napoleon. Returned to Paris from exile, he declares 
his desire to rank himself under the Flag* of the Re- 
public, and assures the Provisional Government of his 
devotion to the cause they represent, and of his personal 
sympathy for them. 

In making- visits to-day, 1 was in districts where I 
had not been since the Revolution. Nearly all the 
shops appeared to be open again. Workmen were 
engaged in repaving the streets in the parts torn up 
for barricades. Things have already, with a few ex- 
ceptions, their old appearance, or nearly so. I did 
i not see any private carriages, although I was in 
thoroughfares where, before the Revolution, they were 
always seen at the hour I was out. Hackney coaches, 
cabs and other vehicles, were in the streets much as 
usual. The theatres are reopened, and street amuse- 
ments go on in the daytime along the Champs Elysees, 
as if nothing' had happened. The recovery, judging 
I merely by the outside view of things along the streets, 
i has been very quick after this great convulsion. I had 
' little inclination to stroll on to Neuilly, where that 
beautiful summer Palace of the King was burned \ for 
who could take pleasure in looking* on its ruins ? 

March 4. To-day the funeral of the citizens who 
fell in the combats of the 23rd and 24th of February 
took place, under an order of the Provisional Govern- 
ment. The bodies were deposited in the vaults of the 
Column of July, where the old Bastile stood, and 
religious service was performed in all the churches. 
The throng drawn together was chiefly concentrated 



458 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

in the neighbourhood of the church of the Madeleine, 
and filled the Boulevards for a. o-reat distance. I saw 
one edge of it in going- to the Legation \ and before 
leaving* my house a large body of the people also passed 
within view, on their way across the bridge at Place 
de la Co::corde to join the funeral procession. I went 
out to see this detachment of it. Numerous tri-colored 
flags were displayed, and all were singing the Mar- 
seilles Hymn. 

March 5. Make a personal call on M. de Lamartine 
this evening. He told me he was engaged in public 
business day and night almost incessantly, and that 
the labour pressed heavily on him. I congratulated 
him on his victory over the bloody flag on the memor- 
able Friday, the 25th of Februar}\ He says that 
when he has a little more command of his time, he 
will hope to see more of me. Just as I entered his 
hotel (the same M. Guizot had), a deputation of 
pupils from the colleges of France was coming out of his 
saloon. I heard their shouts on leaving him. They had 
been to offer their homage, and give expression to their 
hopes and devotedness under the great political 
change. He had replied in a kind and stirring speech. 
He is always ready on such occasions ; happy also in 
his language and illustrations, especially when ad- 
dressed to the young, who fire up under the off-hand 
bursts of his animation and genius. 

March 7. M. de Lamartine came to see me, but 
I was not in. I hear that he said to Count Circourt 
that two good things had happened for the Eepublic : 
the letter of the Pope's Nuncio, and the address of the 
American Minister ; the one representing the head of 
Christianity, the other the head of Eepublicanism. 

March 21. Count de Lasterie and Major Poussin 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF L848. 459 

dine with us. The former was a member of the late 
Chamber of Deputies. Our conversation was on the 
present state of thing's in Paris, and particularly on 
the component parts of the Provisional Government. 
It is more than half believed that divisions exist among 
the members on some important points. 

March 25. This evenino- I went to M. de Lamar- 
tine's. The Belgian and Sardinian Ambassadors were 
there, with a few other gentlemen. Madame de Lamar- 
tine was present. M. de Lamartine had been annoyed 
by an occurrence at his house shortly before I came. 
A deputation of fifty, from the whole body of Poles in 
France, waited upon him with a request, that the 
Provisional Government would supply them with arms 
and money to enable them to make a campaign into 
Poland to liberate their countiy. He reasoned briefly 
with them on the impropriety of their request that he 
j should kindle up a war in Europe, telling- them it 
would come to that. They did not, or would not, 
understand his reasoning-. He expostulated with them 
more earnestly. They did not regard that, either, but 
became boisterous in his very saloon. He then put 
them down, firmly regardless of their clamour \ for 
they even threatened him with a hostile " demonstra- 
tion' 7 against the Government on the day following. 
Though he w T as somewhat moved at the occurrence of 
such an incident in his own domicil, he enters into con- 
versation with his company with his usual buoyancy, 
not despairing of the Eepublic because of the behaviour 
of this Polish deputation. 

March 31. I hear that early this month Lord 
Normanby said to M. de Lamartine, in the name of his 
Government, that as soon as the Provisional Govern- 
ment was changed into a definitive oue by the National 



460 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Assembly, Great Britain would accredit her Ambas- 
sador to the new Eepublic ; and in the interim keep 
up the necessary business relations, as well as those 
of good will and friendship, with the Republic. That 
the Eepublic should desire to keep on g-ood terms with 
England is both natural and wise. M. de Lamartine 
sees this. All reasonable Frenchmen see it. Ambi- 
tious and dangerous men suddenly arrived at power, 
if able to get up a cry that England had put herself 
against the Eepublic, might use it to blast the hopes 
of internal quiet, so necessary to France when about to 
mould her new institutions into form. 

The Poles, who were brim-full of anger when they 
left M. de Lamartine's house lately, came back the next 
day with a larger deputation. He addressed the in- 
creased number, doing it w T ith such good sense and 
conciliation that, instead of the hostile demonstration 
threatened, he brought them over to his side, with ex- 
pressions of regret at the unreasonableness of their 
first expectations. 

April 2. Among those at our table to-day was M. 
George Lafayette, member of the late Chamber of De- 
puties, and son of General Lafayette : a name ever 
dear to our country as the companion in arms of Wash- 
ington ; who left France, then a young* nobleman born 
to honours and fortune, to fight in our Eevolutionary 
battles as a volunteer aid by his side. He holds the 
Eepublican principles for which his gallant and noble- 
minded father fought, and inherits his virtues. Though 
a Republican of the Washington school, he said to-day 
that the number of Frenchmen in favour of that form of 
government, take France throughout, was, he believed, 
very small. For himself, he desired to see a Eepublic ; 
but his fears were that France was not ready for one. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 461 

fcly ear could not be deaf to these words from this 
puree. His home is in the country, on the ancient 
state of his father. He thought, nevertheless, that 
lie Kepublic would stand, so many parties were for 
ipholding it ; each part)', probably, thinking- it might 
he better arrive at its own ends, through the great 
change so suddenly come upon France by the procla- 
mation of a Ee public. 

April 10. Count de Lasterie tells. me that M. de 
^amartine is opposed to a double branch for the Le- 
gislature in the Republican Constitution to be formed 
or France, and thinks that almost all France will 
De against it. 

April lo. Went this evening to M. de Lamartine's. 
rle was not at home, but with the Provisional Govern- 
ment. A small company is present, and no more than 
wo of the Diplomatic Corps. I collect from the con- 
ersation of the evening that divisions of opinion exist 
trongly in the Provisional Government, and that se- 
ious clashing- among its members is even apprehended 
■efore the National Assembly can meet, which will be 
n May ; the elections, or preparatory steps for them, 
•eing in progress. 

April 16. M. de Tocqtieville, the well- known author 
-f the celebrated work on the political institutions of 
,he United States, comes to see me. We get into con- 
versation on some of the points of Eepublican Govern- 
ment. I mention what I had heard of M. de Lamartine's 
objections to a double branch for the Legislative power 
mder the new Eepublic. We converse on this part of 
|he subject. I say that American experience is all in 
avour of two branches. For the illustrations from 
ristorv showing the dangers of a single branch and 



462 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

advantages of a double branch, I refer him to the 
learned and logical work of the elder Adams, formerly 
President of the United States, and one of the foremost 
patriots and sag*es of the American Revolution, writ- 
ten against the attack of M. Turgot, the French 
statesman, who regarded our preference of the double 
legislature as only a misplaced fondness for the English 
model of two houses of Parliament ; but, apart from 
the value of that model, Mr. Adams's reasoning and 
illustrations seemed to me, and to others who were 
better judges, to be founded on the elementary maxims 
of government and the nature of man. M. de Tocque- 
ville seemed familiar with the historical facts and rea- 
soning in favour of the double branch, but wished to 
know what work of repute there was in our country 
which defended the single branch. I replied, none that 
I knew of; that not only did the Constitution of the 
United States establish a double branch in the two 
houses of Congress, but all the States, amounting to 
thirty, which composed the Federal Union at present, 
had adopted the double branch; or, if exceptions existed, 
I was not aware of them. The only exception, in 
our past history was in the Constitution first formed 
by Pennsylvania after the breaking out of the Revo- 
lutionary War. I remembered no other. But the 
same State changed it afterwards for a Constitution 
with the double branch. Was there any work in 
Pennsylvania, he asked, embodying the arguments for 
the single branch when her first Constitution was 
formed ? None that I was able to specify, I said. : 
The Journals of the day , and debates of the body which 
formed it, would, doubtless, contain the arguments its 
advocates used ; but these I could not easily command 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 463 

■mless at home. It is proper for me to add, I remarked, 
that Dr. Franklin was friendly to the single branch ; but 
;!ie rarely spoke in legislative bodies, and never at length. 
I Here our conversation stopped short. M. de 
f ocqueville heard the rappel beating* in the streets. 
JRising from his chair, he left me, hardly pausing a 
foment to join his regiment in the National Guards. 
kuthor; man of genius; independent in his circum- 
stances; addicted to study ; not robust in frame; yet 
iff he goes for his musket at the first summons of the 
Jrum, to take his stand as a private in the ranks. So 
.jnartial is France ! 

April 16. This same day, Count de Caraman and 
Jount de Mandelslow dine with us. The latter (of 
■IVurtemberg) was my esteemed colleague in the Di- 
plomatic Corps at London, whom it has been my good 
tartune to meet here in Paris, where he is on a visit ; 
jby renewed intercourse with whom has a double value, 
c rom his amiable Countess and accomplished daughter 
king here with him. 

I introduce the name of Count Caraman first, for the 
Jake of saying that, when we talked of the Republic, 
jle was for accepting it, not because he held its opinions, 
for he is known to his friends as a frank and honour- 
able legitimist,) but because, thrown upon France even 
r a delusive show of popular opinion, as he thought 
was, all should, nevertheless, accept it for present 
eace. Like others of his political faith, he appeared 
have little idea that it would succeed. Apart from 
liis motive for alluding to him, I am afforded in doing 
p, the opportunity of a passing tribute to his worth, 
long known to me,— first in Washington, as an attrac- 
ve young attache to the French Legation when M. 
Iierurier was Minister, in the First Napoleon's day, 



464 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

during' both his grandeur and fall ) again knowing- him 
as belonging- to the French Embassy in London, when 
the Marquis d'Osmond was Ambassador from France ; 
and now here, — his society has always been highly 
valued by myself and family. Especially has it been 
agreeable and useful to us in all social ways since we 
came to Paris; and not unfrequently from the political 
matter and conjectures he catches in his own circles, 
where, as in all circles, he listens with an intelligent 
and cultivated mind. 

April 18. I learned again to-day that heart- 
burnings prevail among some of the members of the 
Provisional Government, which cause intense anxiety, 
though happily they are still kept out of the news- 
papers. 

The rappel which so suddenly snatched from me the 
enlightened companion with whom I was in conversa- 
tion day before yesterday, was caused by a great 
a demonstration " of the working-classes, who had con- 
gregated in the Champ de Mars. The assemblage, 
which went on to increase by various reinforcements 
arriving at this well-known point as a rendezvous, 
moved off, to the number, it was said, of fifty thousand, 
with banners denoting their object, which was to form 
an organization of labourers to procure work. Their 
march was towards the Hotel de Ville, where the Pro- 
visional Government sits \ at which point they intended 
openly to announce their object. An alarm was raised. 
It spread quickly. Rumour succeeded rumour, and 
many feared a new Eevolution was at hand ; though 
the procession appeared to be moving along peaceably 
and unarmed. When the rappel was beaten, the Na- 
tional Guards came together from all parts of Paris. 
It did not begin to beat till noon ; but in a few hours 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 184S. 405 

it was computed that scarcely fewer than a hundred 
thousand of the Guards had turned out, ready to pro- 
tect all the important points of the capital, had there 
been a fresh outbreak to bring 1 about another Revolution. 
The Hotel de Ville was secured against attack inside 
and from without. Lamartine and Marrast appeared 
on the balcony, and were greeted by the plaudits of 
thousands in the streets. Their appearance was hailed 
as svmbols of the Republic's safety. This prompt exer- 
tion of authority, backed by such an armed force acting* 
with order and discipline, speaks well for the energy of 
the Provisional Government ; which derives also a new 
moral support from the evidences of public opinion, 
which the occasion seems to have arrayed on its side. 
An impression exists that a plot to overturn it was 
certainty at the bottom of this movement. I find it 
difficult to g*et authentic information on the subject, 
and leave it under as much as I have noted down. 

April 21. To-day I receive a dispatch from the 
Secretary of State, conveying* to me the approbation 
' of the President for the part I took on the 28th of 
February in acknowledging* the French Republic, and 
enclosing- me a letter of credence to the Provisional 
Government. 

April 22. I address an official note to M. de La- 
martine, informing* him of this communication. I 
also send him a copy of the letter of credence, and 
request an interview to know when I may have the 
honour of delivering* the original to the Provisional 
Government in person. 

The letter was in the customary form of such commu- 
nications from the executive heads of Governments, 
whether Monarchies or Republics. 

2 H 



466 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

April 23. M. de Lamartine informs me that he will 
give me the interview to-morrow at twelve o'clock. 

April 12. I called at the Foreign Office at twelve 
o'clock. M. de Lamartine said that my formal appear- 
ance before all the members of the Provisional Govern- 
ment for the deliver}- in person of the letter of credence, 
could scarcely, he feared, be brought about at as early 
a day as he wished, from the difficulty of getting- them 
all together. He added, that if I would overlook the 
form of appearing before all, he would himself receive 
the letter from me as representing* them all. I assented 
to his proposition. 

April 26. I presented my letter of credence to 
M. Lamartine at the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, as 
agreed. 

The same arrival from the United States brought 
me another dispatch from the Secretary of State, in- 
forming* me that the President had appointed the Secre- 
tary of this Legation Charge d'AfFaires of the United 
States at Home. The dispatch added that whomsoever 
I would name as successor to Mr. Martin, the President 
would appoint to the situation. In this transfer of 
Mr. Martin to another sphere of public duty, I lose an 
experienced and highly competent official assistant, 
and a man of honourable principles and deportment.* 
Many names are placed before me as his successor. I 
select the attache to the Legation who came with me 
from the United States, Mr. Stanton, still young* in 
years, but who has earned this confidence from me by 

* Mr. Martin died soon after arriving at Some to enter upon 
his mission. "With a luminous mind, scholarly attainments, and 
his whole nature anti-sellish and generous, his friends will long 
regret his talents and virtues. 



FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 467 

his intelligent attention to the business of the Lega- 
tion, the quickness with which he has learned French, 
and his correct principles and conduct. 

April 30. M. de Tocqueville and Mr. Bancroft dine 
with us. We had much conversation on the new form 
of Government for France ; especially as regards the 
federative principle and centralization. M. de Tocque- 
ville g*ave an account of the powers and jurisdiction of 
ihe Parliaments as now existing* in the departments. 
j£le sees great difficulty in constructing' out of them 
anything like our State governments for France. She 
lis too much disposed to centralization from long habit, 
vhich had become a conviction. His views were per- 
spicuously presented. Mr. Bancroft, himself not unin- 
formed in this field, was the better enabled to draw out 
M. de Tocquevdlle's opinions and give point to what 
jiras said. For my share in the conversation, I went 
•n favour of the federative system, as exemplified in 
♦ur Union, from its combining with federation the 
strength of consolidation ; federation taking charge of 
;he whole internal concerns of our States; consolida- 
tion (centralization) presenting us with one front to 
LO reign Powers. 

May 10. The opening of the National Assembly 
*ook place on the 4th of this month. 

At eleven in the morning, members began to enter 
he building erected since the Revolution for their 
ccommodation ; and before one o'clock upwards of six 
undred were in the chamber. The body was tempo- 
mly organized, and the members took their seats, 
he whole body had an aspect of great respectability, 
witnessed the scene from the box or tribune allotted 
j» the Diplomatic Corps. Fewer young men were 
Itnong them than perhaps might have been antici- 

2 h2 



468 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

pated. The majority appeared to be of middle age 
above rather than below it, and a portion more ad 
vanced. Among- the members are many names con ] 
spicuons for intellect and reputation in France. 

Soon after one o'clock, cannon and drums announcec 
the approach of the Provisional Government. As the 
entered the vast Chamber, all the members rose an 
welcomed them with upraised hands, exclaiming* am 
reiterating*, Vive la Republique ! Vive le Gouverne 
ment Provisoire ! The galleries echoed back th 
greetings. The President of the Provisional Govern 
ment, the venerable Dupont, then made a brief address 
The moment had arrived, he said, when they were t 
hand over to the Representatives of the People, a 
depositaries of the Nation's will, the power with whic 
the Revolution had invested them ; they had pre 
claimed the Republic, which sprang into existence i 
February \ they had passed through difficult cii 
cumstances, and now looked with hope to the suprein 
power of the Assembly to give to France a Republica 
constitution that would suit her. The address wi 
enthusiastically received amid new cries of Vive ' 
Republique. The address struck me favourably by i 
brevity, and its simple and appropriate languag*e. 

The Provisional Government then withdrew. The 
were followed by the Representatives, who went ini 
their different bureaux for the purpose of verifyrn 
their returns under the election. This occupied r 
hour or more, when they returned to the Chambe 
The Provisional Government also returned. In a litt 
while it was proposed that a solemn proclamation 
the Republic should be made b} 7 the Assembly, irion 
said this was unnecessarj^. The Republic, they sai 
already existed by spontaneous acclamation. It w 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 469 

like the sun : — all saw it. Finally, it becoming* known 
that the National Guard, and more than a hundred 
thousand people outside, desired to witness the pro- 
clamation of the Republic in the open air, all the 
Representatives and the members of the Provisional 
Government went out on the steps of the old Chamber 
of Deputies, which the new hall adjoins ; and there, 
with increased enthusiasm, the Republic was pro- 
claimed, amid universal shouts. Their reverberations, 
and the roar of cannon from the Champs Elysees and 
Hotel des Invalides, made the scene very animating-. 

The Assembly met again on the fifth, when seven 
hundred and fifty members were present. They chose 
for their presiding' officer M. Buchez. The presiding* 
officer is to be chosen once a month. Six Vice-Pre- 
sidents and six Secretaries were next elected ; and the 
Assembly has held its sitting's ever} T day since. 

How the members, nine hundred in all, stand as to 

political parties, has not yet been distinctly revealed. 

About two-thirds seem at present to be considered 

moderate Republicans ; but an intelligent member tells 

- me this is doubtful. M. Georg'e Lafayette is chosen; 

»and his meritorious son, M. Oscar Lafayette. Se- 

| /eral bishops, and others of the clergy, have been 

hosen. The army and navy are well represented, six 

generals of division being* among- the former, as well 

s other hig'h officers. Vice-admirals are among* the 

'iaval officers. It is supposed that a hundred 

Legitimists may probably have been chosen, with 

:Ome Orleanists, and others not Republicans before the 

;4th of February. But no one of any class or party, 

ppears to think of any other form of government but 

Republican. The Abbe Lacordaire, the distinguished 

'cclesiastic, has so expressed himself in the Assembly. 



470 FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

He declared that before the events of February he 
was a monarchist, but was now for a Republic. So 
with the whole bod^y. Twice has their constitutional 
Monarchy failed. A Republic has come, as a fate. 
Let it be fairly tried. This seems the feelings this the 
apparent determination, of all. Fortunate also is it 
that so many eminent men are seen in the Assembly, 
whether taken from civil or ecclesiastical life, or the 
army and navy. It holds out good assurances that 
intellect and knowledge of a hio*h order will not be 
wanting- to its deliberations. This was foreseen as 
the result of universal suffrage, which was the rule 
in choosing 1 the members. It was foreseen and 
foretold, as its practical operation, that large bodies oi 
the working* and labouring* classes among* the people 
when coming' up to vote, or before the day, would 
probably seek the aid of prominent and trustworthy 
persons known to them in the various departments 01 
communes, to make out suitable nominations for them 
expressing- their willingness to support freely tickets 
prepared in that way and put into their hands. This I 
is understood to have been the mode pursued in the 
elections throughout large portions of rural France. 

Several important reports were laid before the 
Assembly by the members of the Provisional Cabinel 
on surrendering up their posts. Amongst them, M 
de Lamartine's manifesto, issued early in March, is 
memorable. It considers the treaties of 1815 as 
abolished. It announces to foreign nations that France, 
as a Republic, does not desire to enter the family 
of nations as a disturbing phenomenon of European 
order ; that war was not her principle, but peace ' 
but that a if conditions of war were laid down to the 
French people/' they would be accepted ; that u the 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 471 

Republic was only the intellectual ally of nations 
desiring* to live by the same principle as its own ; 
France, as a Republic, aimed not at setting- the world 
on fire, but only to shine from her place on the horizon 
of nations." These are some of its words. The docu- 
ment shows the fertile thoughts of a rich mind, rather 
than the usual tone and diction of state papers. While 
declaring that "the treaties of 1815 exist no longer 
as law in the eyes of the French Republic, " it 
admits the Ci territorial circumscriptions " of those 
treaties as a basis ; a point de depart, in its relations 
with other nations. 

The Reports from the Minister of the Interior ; of 
Finance ; of Public Instruction \ of Justice \ of Agri- 
culture and Commerce ; and of War ) made known 
what had been done in those several departments. The 
Report of the Minister of War shows an army larger 
than under the monarchy; namely, five hundred 
thousand men, with eighty thousand cavalry \ and the 
Garde Mobile, about fifteen thousand strong", has been 
added to the military force of Paris. 

There was also a summary Report from the Pro- 
visional Government as a body, which was read by M. 
Jde Lamartine \ and the Assembly passed a vote that 
jthe Provisional Government had deserved well of the 
Country. 

By as much as I can learn thus far of the opinions 
of the members, through intercourse with some who 
are eminent, the predominating feeling* is for centrali- 
zation. The unity of France, her martial character, 
her position in Europe — which imposes on her the 
fluty of being* ready for war now as much as ever — all 
point to centralization ; and the members appear to 
;hink that a single legislative chamber will best sub- 



472 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

serve all these great conditions of her existence. A 
plural Executive seems to find favour with some. 

Now that the Provisional Government has come to 
an end, brief notices of its course may not be out of 
place as part of the history of this remarkable epoch in 
France. 

The sudden prohibition of a political banquet which 
the opposition intended to celebrate on the 22d of 
February drove the King* from his throne. He reached 
England in safety with his incomparable Queen. That 
this prohibition was the immediate cause of his expul- 
sion, even if other causes existed for trouble of some 
kind, all agree. The first demonstrations of violence 
under the suppression of the banquet were appeased 
by the dismissal of the Ministers ; and had it not 
been for the accidental firing of the troops upon the 
people, from the garden of the Hotel of Foreign 
Affairs, many among* the well informed think there 
would have been no Revolution at all, more especially 
as revolutions generally come when nations are in a 
suffering' state, not when they are prosperous. If 
there be dissentients from this opinion, all with whom 
I conversed admit that France, as a nation, had no 
intention of creating 1 , and was in no expectation of 
seeing-, a Republic. Jt took the nation by surprise. 
It sprang into being, as the venerable Dupont said in 
his address. It presented itself with the same sudden- 
ness as the Monarchy fell. He equally spoke the 
truth in saying- the Provisional Government had 
u passed through difficult circumstances." Considering 
its incongruous composition, the wonder is that it held 
together until the Assembly met — a result attributable 
in a great degree to the influence of de Lamartine. It 
had to enter upon its functions instanter. There was 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 473 

no interval for deliberation ; none for reconciling- 
jarring* opinions, even if all its members could ever 
have moved in concert. Whatever was to be done, 
was wanted on the moment. The chasm, opened by 
the political earthquake, was to be closed. To have 
left it open, would have invited evils greater than any 
which could arise from the injudicious exercise of the 
new-born authority. This all saw. All rallied round 
that authority, as the only safety for all. 

To mention all that this new-born authority did, is 
no part of my purpose ; but the most important of its 
acts may be summarily brought into view. 

It abolished all titles ; and removed all shackles from 
the press. 

It decreed universal suffrag-e by ballot to all French- 
men twenty-one years old, except convicts, without 
requiring- any qualification of property. 

It abolished death for all political offences, and 
liberated from prison all who were confined for such 
offences ; and abolished imprisonment for debt. 

It gave bread to all workmen thrown out of employ 
by the Revolution, not indefinitely, but for a season. 

It promised them employment, and did employ 
[| large numbers in the public workshops. 
1 It ordained that the citizens slain in the streets 
whilst fighting* ag*ainst the Monarchy were to be 
adopted by the nation. 

It decreed that in addition to existing* taxes (the 

payment of which was urged in advance), the direct 

j taxes should be increased fifty-five per cent, for the 

present year ; an increase which would have added a 

thundred and ninety millions of francs to the national 

income of the year. 

It emancipated at once the slaves in all French 



4?4 FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

colonies, and made a ratable proportion of them eligible 
as members of the National Assembly equally with 
members chosen in France. 

These were among" the primary acts of the Pro- 
visional Government promulgated, and, as far as pos- 
sible, executed, very soon after it u sprang" into being. 
A multitude of others growing out of them, or in 
separate fields, followed quickly in their wake. Most 
of those I specify were elementary. Some were bene- 
ficent; some necessary to keep down fresh outbreaks; 
but scarcely any one would say that all were wise. 
More might think that it would have been better to 
leave a portion of them for the Representatives of the 
whole nation to act upon when the National Assembly 
met. 

Looking to the foreign policy of France, all its 
early steps towards other states may be remembered, 
with approbation. It kept the peace of Europe, when 
the Revolution threw out fuel broadcast for kindling' 
fearful strife among nations. It nipped in the bud an 
onslaught on Poland, in which whole thousands of the 
French would eagerly have joined. It kept down bel- 
ligerent inroads into Italy, which the impetuosity and 
fire of Frenchmen were ready to make. It did the 
same towards Belgium. This pacific policy was kept 
steadily in view by M. de Lamartine, and maintained 
by his intellectual and moral power. It was the best 
commentary upon his own manifesto; rendering clear, 
parts which might have been thought obscure through 
the redundancy and rhetoric of its periods. Nor did he 
receive encouragingly, but the contrary, deputations 
from Ireland, who came over with warm congratula- 
tory addresses on the Revolution, in the^ope, possibly, 
of aid for Irish grievances; any steps towards which 



FEENCH EEVOLUTION OF 1848. 475 

must have compromised the new Eepublic with Eng- 
land, and brought the two countries to the eve of war, 
if not actual war. 

The great difficulty was with the finances. The 
taxes were not paid in advance, as urg'ed ; and the 
decree for increasing* so largely the direct taxes was of 
doubtful policy and uncertain of success. Money dis- 
appeared. Credit was down, and could not be revived, 
while the future was uncertain and the new expenses 
great. The shops of Paris had reopened, as if by 
magic, after the first shock of the Revolution. They 
lost no time in making" a display to keep up appear- 
ances, natural where with so many their all was at 
stake in the revival of business. But those who 
walked about in the streets found that to reopen shops 
was not to bring- back custom. Stepping* into one 
near the Rue du Bac for some gloves, I received from 
those in attendance the assiduous attention always to 
be met with in French shops. On coming" away, I 
learned that they had sold nothing" else that day ! It 
was then near evening", and the shop one in good 
vogue. This was perhaps a month after the Revolu- 
tion ) and hundreds of shops, if not in the same, were 
probably in predicaments not very different. 

The first wants of the Provisional Government led 
to enormous expenditure. For a while it drew upon 
the funds left by the Monarchy \ but these rapidly 
diminished. Demand upon the public purse was con- 
stant ; supplies to it precarious. Small dealers were 
straitened, many ruined ; and large firms began to give 
way. A loan of a hundred millions of francs was me- 
ditated, but fell through from the stagnation of business 
and general distrust. It was supposed that there had 
been an average monthly payment of more than three 



47G FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

millions of francs since the close of February, to support 
unemployed workmen in Paris and its vicinity, leaving 
out what was paid in the provinces. 

Amidst the financial embarrassments of the Republic, 
inevitable to its premature birth, it was cheered by 
numberless voluntary acts of patriotism throughout the 
land. Workmen, fortunate enough to get employment, 
made known their desire to give up a day's wages in 
every week to the State. Peasants in the country 
made an offering of their silver forks and spoons for the 
public ; for with these it w r ould seem that a large por- 
tion of the peasantry of the country were supplied. 
Bankers came forward with liberal donations, side by 
side with private individuals who made smaller ones. 
Admirals in the navy renounced a portion of their pay 
and emoluments. Even needle-women, so badly paid 
everywhere, perhaps, desired that a portion of their 
earnings should be accepted by the Republic. I give 
samples only of this feeling. While the sum total of 
all such oblations is of little account when the treasury 
of a great nation is in straits, there was something in 
them honourable to the French, especially to the com- 
mon people, when their country was suffering — suffer- 
ing under evils which, although believed to be tem- 
porary, pressed sorely upon the middle and lower 
classes. 

May 11. The power of the Provisional Government 
being extinct, the National Assembly yesterday chose 
the following persons to be the Executive Committee 
until the new Constitution comes into existence : 
namely — 

M. Arago, M. Gamier Pages, M. Marie, M. de 
Lamartine, and M. Ledru Rollin. 

May 12. Yesterday the President of the Assembly 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 477 

announced that the Executive Committee had selected 
the following* persons to compose the Ministry : — 

Jules Bastide, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; M. Cre- 
mieuXj Minister of Justice ; M. Recurt, Minister of the 
Interior ; M. Carnot, Minister of Public Instruction, 
with M. Reynaud as Under Secretary ; M. Bethmont, 
Minister of Public Worship ; M. Flocon, Minister of 
Commerce and Agriculture ; M. Trelat, Minister of 
Public Works; M. Duclere, Minister of Finance 5 M. 
Charras, Minister of War ad interim [General Cavaig- 
nac became so a few days afterwards] ; Admiral Casy, 
Minister of Marine ; M. Marrast and M. Caussidiere to 
retain their respective situations as Mayor of Paris and 
Prefect of Police. 

May 12. Receive a letter from the President, ac- 
companied hy a joint Resolution of Congress, tendering* 
the congratulations of the American to the French 
people upon the success of their recent efforts to conso- 
lidate the principles of liberty in a Republican form of 
government. I am directed by the President to present 
an authenticated copy of this Resolution to the French 
Government. 

May 13. Wait on M. Bastide, the new Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, this morning, to inform him that I 
had received the joint Resolution of Congress, and 
requesting to know at what time it would suit the con- 
venience of the Executive Committee to grant me the 
honour of an audience to present it, as directed by the 
President. The Minister promises to make known my 
request and give me an answer. I leave with him a 
copy of the Resolution. 

May 15. Great commotion in Paris ; the rappel 
beating* 5 streets filled with the militar} r ; alarming- 
rumours of fresh trouble. I hasten to the office of the 



478 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Legation ; troops obstruct my passage over the net 
bridge at Place de la Concorde, and I go another waj 
Return at two o'clock by the bridge of the Invalide 
I stop at the residence of my countryman, Mr. Aikei 
a gentleman of South Carolina, living in Rue S 
Dominique, where onr former Minister, Mr. King, livec 
I there learn that thousands of soldiers are surrounding 
the National Assembly ; the cause not known. Oi 
reaching home, I hear that another Revolution is h 
progress. Go out again, trying to ascertain, fron 
acquaintances at hand, what the alarm amounts toj 
Hear that mobs of disorganizes and Red Republican? 
from the clubs of Paris, the communists, socialists, 
and such like, broke suddenly into the National As- 
sembly and stopped its deliberations. 

May 16. It turns out that not only was the Assem- 
bly invaded yesterday and nearly all the members 
driven by violence from their seats, but that the assail- 
ants proceeded to proclaim a new Revolution. The 
Assembly however, regained its authority in the even- 
ing, and the assailants were discomfited. 

May. 17. The Assembly took steps yesterday, and 
are adopting further steps to-day, against the con- 
spirators and others concerned in this outrage upon its 
authority. Arrests have been made; amongst them 
Barbes, Sobrier, Huber, Rey, Albert (late one of the 
Secretaries of the Provisional Government), and Ras-r 
pail. The last is editor of a paper called the " Friend 
of the People/' Treachery is charged upon some of 
the National Guard, particularly General Courtais, 
the commander, who has been arrested. 

May 18. Further arrests are made of the con- 
spirators and their confederates. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OP 1848. 479 

May 19. Receive a note from the Minister of 
\ Foreign Affairs, in answer to my verbal communica- 
tion to him of the 13th, informing- me that the Execu- 
■I tive Committee will receive me on the 82nd, at the 
I Petit Luxembourg*, at twelve o'clock. The Minister 
j gives as a reason for not having named an earlier day, 
[the disturbed condition of things that has existed in 
{Paris. 

May 19. Eeceive a dispatch from the Secretary of 
State relative to the tobacco monopoly. It encloses a 
memorial from merchants in Baltimore interested in 
,'the trade, and instructs me to use my best endeavours 
|to have the whole subject placed on a better footing 
than it has been hitherto in France. 

May 20. I will note down some of the particulars 
of the late bold attempt to overset the Eepublic. 
i The 15th of May had been fixed upon for a debate 
in the National Assembly on the Polish and Italian 
questions. It was expected that on this occasion M. 
fde Lamartine would fully explain what had been the 
course of the Provisional Government towards those 
countries, and unfold the future intentions of France. 
The expectation of this debate had created excitement 
;in Paris. It was known that the violent party, dissa- 
tisfied at the issue of the elections, had given strong 
expression to their discontent at the clubs and in other 
ways ; and it was apprehended that when the day for 
the debate arrived, the occasion might be turned to 
mischief. Accordingly, on Monday, the 15th, a great 
procession was arranged by the malcontents. It was 
;:ermed a " demonstration in favour of the Polish cause." 
jiThe Poles were marshalled in all their force in the 
streets. With them, were thousands of violent persons 
pom the clubs, and their deluded and desperate asso- 



480 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 






dates, who had made the known popularity of the 
Polish cause a cloak for their designs. The whole 
marched in a body, formidable in number, towards the ■ 
Assembly, avoiding" at first all outward signs of disor- I 
der or had intentions. Many of them, however, had 
concealed weapons, as bayonets and knives under their ; 
clothes. The Government was on its guard, and had 
sufficiently protected the Assembly, as was believed, 
against approaches on that day by any multitudinous^ 
procession, whatever its pretext. But, through trea- 
chery somewhere, the procession was allowed to pass 
the main barrier ; when its desperate bands, with well- 
planned movements, burst into the Assembly, drove 
nearly all the members from their seats, and actually pro- 
claimed from the tribune a new Provisional Government 
for France. 

The violence and consternation of the scene, equalled 
for a while, it is said by those who witnessed it, any 
thing that occurred in the Chamber of Deputies whei 
the monarchy was overthrown. The Bepresentativei 
did not, however, move from their seats, until compel 
led by violence. The conspirators hurried off to tin 
Hotel de Ville to consummate their work of usurpa 
tion ; but in the meantime the cause of order was col 
lecting its strength for a triumph. Whatever ma; 
have been the individual instances of treachery in th> 
National Guard, its aggregate force rallied to put dow 
the daring outrage. The perpetrators were scattere 
without the necessity of bloodshed, so prompt and ovei 
powering was the turn-out of bayonets against then 
with cannon in reserve. They had possession of th 
Government at four o'clock in the afternoon ; but b 
seven in the evening, the Assembly had resumed if 
sitting and the Executive Committee its authority. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 481 

This, in a few words, is an account of what happened, 
as far as I have been able to sift it oat. Numerous 
arrests have been made. The ringleaders are not yet 
all known, but will be ferreted out, it is presumed. 
On the whole, the Eepublic appears. to have gained, by 
the prompt suppression of this attempt to overturn it. 
Yet that such men should have carried their point, 

| even to a momentary success, awakens uneasiness, 
though it may not all be expressed. 

They called themselves the People, in presence of 

; the nine hundred Eepresentatives just chosen by the 

J different sections of the eighty-five departments of all 
France under universal suffrage. But, said the con- 

. spirators, they do not represent the Democracy of 

I France ! The names of those who were to have formed 
the new Provisional Government were given out by the 

[I conspirators in the National Assembly, as far as could be 
heard in the confusion, and were afterwards announced 

; at the Hotel de Ville. The newspapers published 
them. In the house of Sobrier, who was arrested, as 
mentioned, decrees were found read} T prepared. The 
first among them begins with saying, that the National 

; Assembly was composed in a great degree of reaction- 

! aries ; that it had violated its mission, lost time when 
misery demanded relief, refused to create a " Ministry 
of Labour;" and, after further recitals, declares that 

• the people of Paris, as an advance guard, had taken 
upon themselves the charge of watching over the trusts 
committed to the Eepresentatives who had violated 
thern ; then it creates a Committee of Li Public Safety," 
(as in the old Eevolution,) to be invested with unlimited 

i powers for constituting a truly Democratic Eepublic, 
and stifle reaction hy the most energetic means. This 

; is an extract from it. By other decrees, u known 

2 i 



482 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

patriots" were to form a new National Guard, to be called 
"La Force Ouvriere f and capitalists, whom they 
accuse of hiding* their money since February, were to 
be taxed to the amount of half their incomes, by a pro- 
cess of calculation w T hich the malcontents had carefully 
made out. 

May 22. Arrests have been made of more than three 
hundred of the conspirators, and the Assembly has 
issued an address or proclamation under the event. It 
is headed {l The National Assembly to the People of 
France," and states that these seditious men have 
attempted the greatest of crimes in a free country — the 
crime of treason ag'ainst the National Sovereignty ; but 
that order would come out of this great trial, and justice 
reach the g*uilty. It fills the third of a column in a 
newspaper. It was adopted by a strong* vote of the 
Assembly, and is to be printed and posted up in all 
the departments, and in every commune in France. 

A Fete in honour of the Eepublic was celebrated yes 
terday. It was in contemplation since the first meeting- 
of the Assembly, but had been retarded by circum- 
stances, and among'st them, this conspiracy. Coming 
after it was crushed, the celebration was the more ani- 
mated. The weather was remarkably fine. The 
procession was from the Place de la Bastile to the 
Champ de Mars, and comprehended every thing* in the 
way of street exhibition, real and alleg-orical, that Paris 
could effect. A colossal Statue, emblematic of the 
Eepublic, was not wanting* to the display. The mem- 
bers of the Assembly, the chief feature in it all, moved 
off in columns four deep from the main front of their 
chamber, each with a small badg*e or ribbon in his coat, 
to be distinguished from the mass. They were g'reeteo 
by thousands and thousands \ shouts going* up of Vive 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 4S3 

la Republique ! Vive FAssemblee Nationale ! They 
marched towards the Champ de Mars, falling in with 
the grand procession at or near that spot. The Na- 
tional Guards and troops of the line were out in great 
numbers, the former epecially. Tri-coloured flags 
floated everywhere, and other banners were displayed. 
At nio-ht there was a grand illumination. We drove out 
to see it. Along the whole Champs Elysees, from Place 
de la Concorde to the Triumphal Arch, was one glitter 
of light, under all the blaze of French pyrotechnics. 
Order was maintained during the whole ffite in which 
probably half a million of people, military and civil, 
men and women, young* and old, may have mingled, — 
most of them, to all appearances, full of joy. The cost 
of the whole was a million of francs. I have not the 
proceedings of the Assembly by me at this moment, 
but think that was the sum voted. When the appro- 
priation for it, in advance, was proposed, a member 
rose to remind the Chamber that Paris was full of 
workmen out of employment and fed by the Govern- 
ment ; nevertheless, the grant went promptly through, 
with the greatest enthusiasm. 

May 23. The Minister of Foreign Affairs having 
appointed the 2 2d as the day when the Executive 
Committee would receive the Joint Resolution of Con- 
gress, I repaired yesterday to the Petit-Luxembourg at 
twelve o'clock, where the five members were assembled 
to receive me. 

On being introduced, I said that I had the honour 
to present to their Excellencies a Resolution of the 
Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States in Congress assembled, passed on to the 13th of 
April, tendering, in the name and behalf of the Ame- 

2 i 2 



484 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

rican People, the congratulations of Congress to the 
People of France, upon the success of their recent 
efforts to consolidate the principles of liberty in a 
Republican form of government. The Resolution had 
the sanction of the President of the United States, in 
the form prescribed b} 7 their Constitution, and I, as 
their Minister Plenipotentiary, had been instructed, 
under a clause of the Resolution, to present it. 

In fulfilling this duty I was charged by the Pre- 
sident to say, that these congratulations of the Legis- 
lative and Executive branches of the Government did 
but reflect the general feeling of the People of the 
United States, who never could view with indifference 
the progress of civil liberty in any part of the world, 
and least of all in the great nation ever associated 
with the establishment of their own freedom and inde- 
pendence. The President, beholding' with admiration 
the spirit of order and peace which reigned as soon as 
the late Revolution was achieved, had the anxious 
hope that the same spirit would continue ; he hoped 
that France might be blessed with internal tranquilly, 
whilst occupied in her great work of building* up her 
new institutions of government, and be spared the 
miseries of foreign war. He believed that those insti- 
tutions, calmly constructed with the best wisdom of 
France, would thus have auspicious opportunities to 
become improved and strengthened in a manner to 
command the approbation of mankind, and secure to 
France a long career of prosperity and happiness. The 
People of the United States, whose birthright was 
freedom, required time and peace after their Revolution 
successfull}- to found and consolidate their sj^stem of 
government, republican in form, popular in principle, 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 485 

and stable from the elements of order inherent in its 
structure ; for its efficiency, like its duration^ was the 
offspring' of the checks it imposed on power. 

These were the sentiments, these the hopes, cherished 
towards France by the President, speaking' under this 
Eesolution of Congress, in the name of the American 
People, and in the spirit of their ancient attachment to 
their renowned and generous ally in the days of Wash- 
ington. And I concluded by saying- how much I felt 
honoured in being- the instrument for conveying* them 
on the part of the President and of my Country. 

M. de Lamartine, on behalf of the Executive Com- 
mittee, replied to the above address. Generally, in 
these memorandums, I have not deemed it necessary 
to set forth the contents of documents or dispatches 
otherwise than by a faithful indication of their mean- 
ing ; but in this instance I depart from that course, and 
will give M. de Lamartine's reply in his ow r n words. 
After having* been delivered, it was printed in the 
Moniteur as follows: — 

i( Sir : The Eesolution which you present to us on 
the part of the Senate, the Legislative body, and the 
President of the American Republic, is a happy con- 
firmation of the recognition of the French Republic 
which you were the first to proclaim. The new Go- 
vernment of the Republic would view with a just 
susceptibility, foreign Governments mixing* up counsel 
with the expression of their g-ood wishes ; but, in the 
intimate relations which exist between the French 
Republic and that of America, every word that the 
latter may address to us will be received on the score 
of perpetual friendship. The Senate, the Legislative 
Body, and the Executive power of the United States 
may be convinced that their wise counsels serve in 



480 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

advance as a law to the French Republic ; not only 
will it follow in their path, but it will follow the 
examples which they give of the order of regular insti- 
tutions, of attention to its neighbours, of solicitude for 
labour, instruction, and the prosperity of the peop e. 
The names of Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson are 
inscribed on the banner of the new Republic ; and if 
France is fortunate enough to find in its future annals 
names worthy of these, liberty will assume its real 
character on the old Continent, as it has done on the 
other side of the Atlantic." 

May 24. In the National Assembly, }^esterday, M. 
de Lamartine stated that the American Minister had 
just presented to the Executive Committee a Resolu- 
tion from the Congress of the United States, to recog- 
nise the French Republic, and to congratulate it on its 
existence. Up to the present time the Executive power 
had always acted of itself in such circumstances ; but 
on this occasion it was the whole Congress of the 
United States which had directly addressed the repre- 
sentatives of the French Republic. Such being the 
case, it would be advisable, he thought, to respond to 
such proceeding- by one of a similar nature ; and y in 
consequence, he had to propose, in the name of the 
Executive Committee, that the Assembly should nomi- 
nate a committee to draw up an address to the American 
Congress, which should be forwarded with as little 
delay as possible. 

The announcement of this proposition was followed 
by cries from all parts of the Chamber of Yes, yes ! 
It was immediately referred by the Assembly to the 
Committee of Foreign Affairs. 

May 25. To-day, in the National Assembly, M. 
Drouyn de Ffluys rose, and spoke to the following 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 487 

effect:— The Assembly, he said, had charged the 
tending* Committee of Foreign Affairs, of which he 
vas Chairman, to propose an Address in answer to the 
felicitations of the Senate and House of Representat- 
ives of the United States; that when France changed 
ler form of government by a striking* exercise of 
lational sovereignty, the American Republic at once, 
hrough its Minister, hastened to recognise a sister in 
lie French Eepublic ; and when the events were known 
it Washington, the President declared that the Ame- 
rican Minister had perfectly comprehended the inten- 
sions of his Government, and that the whole nation 
oined in the language he had used. Congress had 
low, in addition, agreed that felicitations should be 
iddressed to the French Eepublic in the name of the 
American People ; and, in view of so marked a pro- 
ceeding, the Committee of Foreign Affairs conceived 
that the usual course ought also to be departed from 
by France, In place, therefore, of an address, a 
decree by the Assembly appeared to be the mode of 
communication best suited to the friendly character of 
the communications between the two nations. The 
Committee therefore proposed a decree in the terms 
following* : 

u Article I. In the name of the French Eepublic, 
the National Assembly, deeply affected by the feeling* 
which has dictated to the American Congress the de- 
cree of the 13th of April last, offers to the American 
people the thanks of the French Eepublic, and the 
expression of its fraternal friendship. 

" Article II. The Executive Committee is charged 
to transmit the present decree to the French Legation 
at Washington, with an order to communicate it offi- 
cially to the American Congress." 



488 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

The decree was unanimously adopted. 
May 27. A decree yesterday passed the National \ 
Assembly banishing' in perpetuity Louis Philippe and 
the Orleans family from the territories of France. 
Sixty-two members voted against it. Some of these 
spoke against it, placing their objections rather on the 
ground of magnanimity, as the Republic had now 
nothing* to fear from them. The word a perpetuite 
being' objected to, M. Ducoux, who reported the bill 
from the committee, said it meant nothing-, as its 
insertion in the decree would not prevent the decree 
beino* changed should the time arrive. 

May 29. In the National Assembly to-day, the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the Govern- 
ment of the Republic had received formal recognition 
by the Courts of Spain and Belgium. 

Ma} T 30. Prince Louis Napoleon makes a com- 
munication to the National Assembly. It is dated 
London, the 25th of May. Having learned, he says, 
that it had been proposed in the committees to main- 
tain against him alone the decree of banishment 
against his family in 1816, he calls upon the repre- 
sentatives of the people to say how he has deserved 
such severity. Was it, he asks, because he publicly 
declared his opinion that France was not the appanage 
of an}- one man, family, or party ? Was it because, 1 
wishing to make triumphant the principle of sove- 
reignty of the people which alone could terminate 
French dissensions, he had twice been made a victim 
to his hostility to that Government which the Republic 
overthrew ? Was it because, in deference to the Pro- 
visional Government, he returned to a foreign country, 
after hastening to Paris at the first report of the 
Revolution ? Was it because he refused to be a can* 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 489 

date for the Assembly, having' resolved not to re-enter 
France until the Constitution was firmly established? 
Such are his earnest interrogations. He further says, 
that the same reasons which made him take np arms 
against Louis Philippe would lead him, if his services 
were required, to devote them to the defence of the 
Assembly, chosen b}^ universal suffrage \ and, he adds, 
that in face of a king' elected by two hundred deputies, 
he could boast of being heir to an Empire founded by 
the assent of four millions of Frenchmen. In conclu- 
sion, he says, that he will claim no more than the 
rio-hts which belong to him as a French citizen ; but 
these he would incessantly claim, with all the energy 
which the consciousness of never deserving ill of his 
country could give to an upright mind. 

May 31. M. de Tocqueville visits me. He is one 
of the committee of eighteen appointed by the National 
Assembly to prepare a draft of the new Constitution. 
We have much conversation on the subject. The work 
is advancing, aud he thinks from present appearances 
that the committee will report in favour of a single 
Executive and a sino-le Chamber. 

Mr. Buchanan, our Secretary of State, had trans- 
mitted to me, unofficially, some thoughts, embodying* 
the great American doctrine that our State Constitu- 
tions were the only sure pillars of the Constitution of 
the United States, which works by its own inherent 
force in some things, and through the States in others ; 
the latter instrumentality exemplifying* the federative 
principle, the former the national principle ; and the 
combination of the two oivino* to our Union its effi- 
ciency, and securing thus far its duration. Mr. 
Buchanan's paper was well drawn, and pointed to the 
elementary differences of our system from the Swiss 



490 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Confederation, that of the seven United Provinces, and 
the federation of the former circles of Germany \ the 
defects in all which confederacies, and in others more 
ancient, were in the view of the framers of our Consti- 
tution, and sufficiently guarded against as we believed. 
I had shown this paper to M. de Tocqueville, that he 
might judge how far, in the new Constitution preparing 
for France, the French Provincial Parliaments might 
be more or less assimilated to our State Governments, 
so as to make the political machine work efficiently to 
results such as we witnessed in the United States. 
We had conversed before on these topics, and now 
again \ but I found him little sanguine of the success- 
ful application of the two principles in France, where 
the idea of centralization w r as so deep-rooted. 

June 1. The papers state that the Executive Com- 
mittee have presented to the Assembly a full Report 
on the conspiracy of the 1 5th of May, and that the 
details are very voluminous. 

June 2. At Madame de Tocqueville's reception last 
night I had more conversation with M. de Tocqueville 
on the new Constitution. Among prominent names 
on the committee are those of Dupin, Dufaure, Cor- 
menin, Odillon Barrot, Coquerel, Lamennais, Marrast. 
The Abbe Lamennais resigned his membership after 
preparing a draft of the Constitution which was not 
adopted by the committee, but in several parts ap- 
proved. 

June 5. In a letter from Commodore Read, com- 
manding our squadron in the Mediterranean, written 
from his flag-ship in the Bay of Naples, he informed 
me that he received numerous applications for the 
presence of vessels of war at various points within his 
command \ but that his small force would not admit 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 491 



f his complying* with the wishes of all who appre- 
ended inconvenience and even danger in various 
orts of the Mediterranean at this juncture of European 
mors. 

Considering* the disturbed state of Europe, and that 
puntries bordering* on the Mediterranean may be 
g-itated more than they have yet been ; considering* 
fso the unsettled condition of France, and that none 
an say what irregularities may chance to happen in 
er ports before she gets through all the consequences 
f her late Revolution, though I would not foreshadow 
1 of the Republic, it would seem to me best that our 
3rce should be increased in that sea. Accordingly, 

wrote last week to our Government to that effect. 
i advert to the fact that thirty years ago our naval 
prce in the Mediterranean was much larger than that 
low under Commodore Read, although our commerce 
it that day was scarcely half its present amount ; nor 
vas it so large then to protect our vessels from cap- 
ure by Algiers or other Barbary Powers, whose 
)iracies we had previously stopped b}^ our cannon — 
:he sole argument they would listen to. Happily for 
commerce and civilization, France, by converting 
Algiers into Algeria, had broken up that nest of 
pirates, 

June 10. There was a bustle in the National As- 
sembly to-day. 

Several members were observed contending* for the 
tribune, each desiring to speak. The President de- 
cided in favour of M. Heeckeren. This member an- 
nounced to the Assembly that rumours had been 
circulated that when the National Guard went out 
from Troyes to meet a regiment of infantry arriving* 
(there, it saluted the troops with Vive la Republique ! 



492 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

to which the troops replied by the cry of Vice Lorn 
Napoleon ! 

Numerous voices called out, Why tell such rumours 
they are false. 

In the midst of the sensation produced, Generi 
Cavaig'nac, Minister of War, rose and declared the 
the Government of the Republic had received n 
information of the kind, and pronounced it calumnious 
Pie accused no one ; he had no right to do so ; n 
right to believe guilt in the person whose name wa 
unfortunately put forward; but added that he woul 
hold up to public execration any man who woul' 
sacrilegiously lay his hands on the public liberty 
Immense applause followed, the whole Assembl 
rising" and shouting", Vive la Republique ! 

General Cavaignac resumed: —Honour to the ma 
who is faithful to his duties, and devotes his talent 
and fortune to the service of his country ; but sham 
on him who would attempt to turn to his own accoun 
a glorious name, when beholding- his country unde 
present embarrassment and difficulty. Ag-ain vehemen 
applause, with repeated cries of Vive la Republique ! 

Members on the left exclained, No reaction of au 
kind — no pretenders, no imperial despotism, no militar; 
despotism. 

A member on the right exclaimed, A vile impostur 
to injure Louis Bonaparte ! 

The scene closed by an adjournment of the Assembly 

The cause of all this was in the fact that Princ 
Louis Napoleon had just been elected a member c 
Assembly at the special elections in Paris and th 
Provinces. He was chosen for three Provinces a 
well as for Paris. 

June 12. M. George Lafayette was elected a Vice 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 493 

president of the National Assembly on Saturday, in 

ae place of M. Bethmont, appointed Minister of 
ustice. It is so much in the heart of an American 
9 love the name of Lafayette, that I rejoice at this 
•Dmpliment to the meritorious son of the companion in 
rms of Washington. 

i I here note down also the appointment of Major 
:*oussin as Minister Plenipotentiary to the United 
: tates. He was a Republican in principle before the 
rays of February ; but, from all my knowledge of 
im, never violent or impracticable in his opinions. 

received official information of his appointment 
m the 6th instant, from the Secretaiy of Foreign 
Vffairs. 

June 13. Another scene in the National Assembly. 

As soon as the President took the chair yesterda}^, 
tf. Napoleon Bonaparte ascended the tribune, and 
,aid, that although not present at the sitting* on Satur- 
lay, when General Cavaignac so nobly treated as 
calumnious the infamous rumours against his relative, 
le would, nevertheless, as his friend and cousin, claim 
;o address the Assembly 5 not to make any apology 
br him, for he needed none, and had he attempted 
mything wrong he would be the first to blame him. 
He then reviewed his conduct since the Republic com- 
menced, to show that it had been in every sense 
proper 5 and he protested against imputations being 
thrown upon him without proof. This is what he had 
a no-lit to demand for his relative. To deal with him 
jtherwise would be to withhold common justice. He 
introduced collateral matter, in which I need not 
follow him. 

A little while afterwards, M. de Lamartine rose, and, 
after some discussion of other matters, which he sus- 



494 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1348. 

pended, and left the tribune from fatigue, returned t( 
it, and resumed his speech in a tone of increased ani f 
mation. This was caused by confusion in the Chamber 
from rumours that shots had been fired at the Nationa 
Guards outside, where crowds were assembled anc 
troops known to be stationed. The startling- part o 
the rumour was, that blood had been shed under i 
cry of Vive V Empereur. Returning 1 to the tribune, M 
de Lamartine stated, with great earnestness of manner 
that the Executive Committee had that very morning 
prepared a declaration, which events now compellec 
him to read immediately, and which, as conspiracy hac 
been taken flagrante delicto^ and blood been shed 
ought to pass by acclamation. 

A member called out — No vote by acclamation. 

Noise and excitement followed. The Presides 
demanded silence from the whole Assembly, that tin 
communication from the Executive Committee undei 
such grave circumstances might be heard. 

M. de Lamartine then read the following- decree :— 

" The Executive Committee, looking at Article IV, 
of the law of June, 1816, and 

u Considering that Louis Napoleon Bonaparte h 
comprised in the law of 1832, which banishes the 
family of Napoleon : 

u That if that law has been departed from by thu 
vote of the National Assembly, in favour of three 
members of that family who were admitted to take 
their seats as Representatives of the people, such de- 
parture from the law is quite personal, and by nc 
means applies to the said Louis Napoleon Bonaparte : 

" That Louis Napoleon Bonaparte has twice come 
forward as a pretender, and that his pretensions might 
compromise the Republic : 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 495 

u That the Government cannot accept the respon- 
sibility of such acts, and would fail in the first of its 
duties if it did not take measures to prevent the recur- 
rence of them : 

i u Declares, that it will cause the law of 1832 to be 
executed against Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, until 
such time as the National Assembly shall decide other- 
wise." 

The reading- of this decree produced cries of Bravo ! 
'bravo ! the whole Assembly, rising' with shouts of 
Vive la Eepublique ! 

M. Labarit shouted in his loudest voice — Vive la 
Eepublique, but no proscriptions ! 

After further remarks from M. de Lamartine and 
M. Larabit, — 

M. Pierre Napoleon rose, and said, Shame on those 
who have cried Vive TEmpereur while shedding* blood ! 
The Emperor, to avoid civil war, sacrificed himself and 
all his family in 1815. For my part, I shall be found 
in the first rank of the defenders of the Eepublic. 
Loud applause. 

M. Napoleon Bonaparte rose. He applauded with 
all his heart these words of his relative, and desired to 
appeal to the reason of the Assembly at such a moment. 
M. de Lamartine had eloquently told them that the 
horrible crime that he denounced was committed at the 
cry of a name never accused of fomenting' discord ; yet 
it was under the feeling of execration against such an 
attempt that he had proposed a bill of proscription. 
He wished to say nothing to cause excitement, but 
felt it his duty to protest against a decree inspired by a 
crime to which the person intended to be proscribed 
was a stranger. 



49G FRENCH REVOLUTION OF .1848. 

The Minister of Commerce stated, that the decree 
was prepared beforehand. 

M. Napoleon Bonaparte. "What a moment, then, 
have you chosen to present it ! It will be enough to 
make any wretches use a name to cover criminal 
designs." He protested against the connection which 
M. de Lamartine appeared to establish between this 
crime and the name of his relative, exclaiming, with 
animation — u The Empire ! who wishes for it ? It is 
a chimerical notion ; it will remain as a great epoch in 
history, but can never be revived." 

This ended the scene. No vote was taken on the 
decree. It came up only as an incident. The Assem- 
bly proceeded to its regular business, but soon ad- 
journed, impatient of other discussions. 

June 14. Yesterday the Assembly voted, b}- a 
large majority, to admit Louis Napoleon Bonaparte to 
his seat as a Representative. The debate about it 
occupied nearly the whole sitting'. Its substance may 
be presented thus : — 

The members who were for admitting him, said that 
he had been fairly elected \ why, therefore, not let him 
take his seat? why did not the Executive Government 
object to his being a candidate ? that would have been 
their time. They knew of it, and ought to have* 
warned the electors against misplacing their suffrages ; 
but at that time no one had any fear of the person 
whom the Government had now made formidable. 
There was no real dang-er from him as a pretender ; 
the Republic was too great, too strong ; it had planted 
its standard too high to feel any such alarm. To ex- 
clude him from the Assembly, after the people had so 
fully chosen him, w T ould be to affront their sovereignty 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 497 

imd give him a fatal importance. If he had committed 
;i crime, proceed against him, bat do not proscribe 
Irim. A renewal of such attempts as he made against 
;he Government of Louis Philippe, would be like idle 
Breams, impossible to succeed, and only exposing* him- 
self to the contempt of his fellow-citizens and posterity. 

The members for excluding him alleg-ed that the 
present time was different from that of the first elec- 
tions. It was then unknown from what point strength 
»r danger might arise to the Republic ; but, now that 
the Executive Committee was formed, and the precise 
'{position of the Government known, it would be an act 
of folly to admit any one- to a seat in the Assembly 
who might trouble its tranquillity. Louis Napoleon 
Bonaparte was not a simple Representative, but a 
Prince and a Pretender. Each time he attempted to 
center France, his ambition prompted him to the step. 
He was for coming' as the nephew and heir of the 
rights of the Emperor Napoleon. There was no being* 
blind to this ; and would the Chamber invest a Pre- 
tender with the inviolability which covered every one of 
its members ? If any election district had chosen, as a 
member, the Count de Paris or Henry V., would not 
that have been a false step ? To exclude Louis Napo- 
leon was now a law of necessity, which the Assembly 
ought to enforce. 

AVhen the Assembly divided, and it was found 
those for admission had triumphed, it created great 
sensation • and an adjournment quickly followed. 

We read in this vote a defeat of the Executive 
Government of the Republic. 

June 16. Yesterday, near the close of the sitting 
of the Assembly, the President rose, and said he had 

2 K 



498 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

that moment received a letter from Louis Napoleo 
Bonaparte, which he proceeded to read. 

It was addressed to him, as President of the Assem 
bly, dated London, the 14th instant, and stated that, as 
he was about to set off in order to be at his post, he 
learned that his election had been made the pretext for 
disorders and disastrous errors ; he repudiated all the 
suspicion of which he had been the object, for he 
sought not for power ; if the people imposed duties on 
him, he would know how to fulfil them, but disavowed 
all those who had made use of his name to excite dis- 
turbance ; the name he bore was, above all, a symbol 
of order, of nationality, of glory ; and rather than be 
the subject of disorder and anarchy, he would prefer 
remaining- in exile ; he sent enclosed a copy of a letter 
of thanks to all the electors who had given him their 
votes, and concluded with requesting' the President to 
communicate to his colleagues the letter addressed to 
himself. 

Considerable agitation followed the reading of this 
letter. Groups were formed in every part of the 
Chamber. Several members went to the tribune. The 
Minister of War, General Cavaignac, said he would not 
express his thoughts, but could not help remarking 
that in the letter just read the word Republic was not 
even mentioned. Cries of Vive la Eepublique! 

M. Beaune protested, in the name of all his col- 
leagues, against this declaration of war of the Pretender, 
They would have no Pretender; but France ought 
to know how that imprudent citizen had responded tc 
the generosity of the Assembly. 

M. A. Thouret. From the emotion of all in the 
Assembly, it was evident that all were defenders of the 



FEENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 499 

Republic; but one expression in the letter, If the 
people impose on me duties, I shall know how to fulfil 
them, was, in his opinion, an appeal to revolt ; and he 
demanded from the Assembly an immediate decree 
that Louis Napoleon Bonaparte had ceased to be a 
Representative of the people. 

The Minister of War proposed that the Chamber 
should adjourn the discussion until to-morrow. 

M. Jules Favre. There is but one sentiment in the 
Assembly. 

A voice. That is not so sure. 

M. Jules Favre. I repeat, there is only one senti- 
ment here — that of indignation. If, two days after his 
admission as a member, he sends forth an insolent 
challenge to the National Sovereignty, it is our duty 
to repel it. I am of opinion that the Assembly cannot 
separate without passing" a resolution that it is unani- 
mous in opposing all dynastic pretensions. If there 
appears any indication of plot, proceedings ought to 
be instituted. I demand that the letter and enclosure 
be placed in the hands of the Minister of Justice. 
Cries of Yes, yes ! [Before to-day, M. Jules Favre 
had strenuously supported the admission of Prince 
Louis as a member.] 

The Minister of Finance thought it would be most 
dignified not to act precipitately, but suspend any 
decision until to-morrow. 

General Clement Thomas (commander of the Na- 
tional Guards of the Seine). A proposition is made to 
suspend your decision until to-morrow. If informa- 
tion which has reached me be correct, it is in all 
probability a battle which you will have to fight 
to-morrow. I demand that you declare that any 
citizen who dares to take up arms to support the cause 

9 Tr O 
& i\. & 



500 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

of a despot [yes, yes, Vive la Republique !] shall be 
placed hors du loi. 

M. E. Arag-o and M. Duclerc hurried to the tri- 
bune; but the noise prevented any one from being- 
heard. 

The President rose, and said, (i Gentlemen, in the 
midst of the various propositions, it appears to me that 
it will be more dig-nified for the Assembly to make no 
alteration in the order of its deliberations. Let us not 
give more importance than it deserves to a matter 
which may not be as grave as it at first appears." 

The Minister of Finance remarked that the Republic 
would not perish because the Assembly postponed its 
deliberation. 

The whole Assembly rose with cries of Vive la Re- 
publique ! and the sitting* was brought to a close a few 
minutes after. 

Although the enclosure in Prince Louis's letter was 
not read to the Assembly, I will give its import. It 
was dated London, the 11th instant, and posted on the 
walls of Paris, addressed to the electors of the Seine, 
the Yonne, the Sarthe, and the Seine Inferieure, who 
had returned him to the National Assembly. He says 
that their suffrages filled him with gratitude ) the 
more from being unsolicited, and reaching him at a 
moment when he regretted being* inactive, while the 
country had need of all its children to extricate it from 
its difficulties ; a child of Paris, and now a Represen- 
tative of the people, he would unite all his efforts to 
those of his colleagues to re-establish order, secure 
peace abroad, consolidate democratic institutions, and 
promote the prosperity and grandeur of the country. 
The people had been free since the 24th of February. 
Let all rally round the flag of the Republic, and give to 






FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 501 

the world the grand spectacle of a people regenerating 
themselves without violence, civil war, or anarchy. In 
conclusion, he offered them the assurance of his sym- 
pathy and devotedness. 

June 17. Workmen and others collected yesterday 
morning* in larg*e numbers in the neighbourhood of the 
Assembly, anxious to know how the case of Prince 
Louis would be decided. The groups increased as the 
hour approached for opening' the sitting-. No troops 
were ordered out ; but military force would have been 
ready if wanted. 

The President took the chair at the usual hour, and 
rose amidst profound silence in the members. He 
announced the receipt of a new letter from citizen 
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. It was delivered to him 
in the morning* by a person who left London yesterday 
evening*, and he entertained no doubt of its authenticity. 
It was dated the 15th instant. He proceeded to read 
the letter amidst cries of Hear, hear ! Commencing 
with the usual address to the President of the Assembly, 
he sa}'s, that he was proud to have been elected a Re- 
presentative at Paris, and in three other departments : 
that fact, in his eyes, was ample reparation for thirty 
years of exile and six years of captivity ; but the 
offensive suspicions his election had given birth to, the 
trouble for which it had been the pretext, and the 
hostility manifested by the Executive Government 
towards him, imposed on him the duty of refusing* an 
honour which was attributed to intrigue. He desired 
order and the maintenance of a Republic, prudent, 
grand and intelligent ; and since, involuntarily, he 
favoured disorder, he begged leave, though not without 
deep reg-ret, to place his resignation in the President's 
hands. Soon, he trusted, calm would be restored, and 
would permit him to return to France as the most 



502 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

simple of her citizens, but also as one most devoted to 
the repose and prosperity of his countr}\ The letter 
ends with requesting* the President to receive the assu- 
rance of his most distinguished consideration. 

Approbation was manifested in all parts of the 
Assembly when the reading* of this letter was con- 
cluded. 

The President suggested its transmission to the 
Minister of the Interior, to allow him to act on it as he 
might deem proper, with a view to a new election to 
fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Louis 
Napoleon. 

The order of the day was then called for. 

A voice exclaimed, Is the resignation accepted ? 

Yes, yes, from all sides of the Chamber. Then let 
us proceed to the order of the day. 

The Assembly accordingly proceeded to take up its 
regular business. 

This last letter of the Prince, with his letter of the 
11th instant to his constituents, unknown to the As- 
sembly when acting on his letter to their President of 
the 14th, has had, from present appearances, a tran- 
quillizing effect. 

June 20. Yesterday the draft of the Constitution for 
the Republic was presented to the National Assembly 
by M. Arm and Marrast, the Reporter of the special 
committee appointed to draw it up. He also read it. 
When the reading was concluded, no remarks were 
made ) but the Assembly, in consideration of the great 
importance of the subject, took a recess of half an 
hour. The sitting- was then resumed. Its discussion 
will come up another day. 

As reported, a single Chamber is to constitute the 
Legislative power. The Executive power is also to 
be single. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 503 

The Kepresentatives of this single Chamber are to 
be seven hundred and fifty in number, chosen by uni- 
versal suffrage, by ballot, for three years, and are 
re-eligible. They must be twenty-five years old. They 
are to be the Representatives not of the department or 
district which elects them, but of all France, and can 
receive no imperative mandate. The National Assem- 
bly is to be permanent, but may adjourn for a term 
not exceeding three months. No Representative can 
be named, or promoted, to an office held by Executive 
appointment. 

The Executive power is to be in a President chosen 
by direct and universal suffrage. His age must be 
thirty at least. He is to be elected for four years, and is 
not re-eligible until after an interval of four years. He 
appoints to office and removes ; the latter not in all 
instances without the advice of the Council of State. 
The Ministers of his appointment are to have seats in 
the Assembly and the right of speaking. He is to 
watch over and assure the execution of the laws. The 
armed force is at his disposal, but with no power of com- 
manding in person. He cannot dissolve the Legisla- 
tive body, or in any manner suspend the Constitution 
or laws. His salary is to be six hundred thousand 
francs a year, and a residence is to be provided 
for him. 

There is to be a Vice-President "nominated for 
four years by the Assembly, on the presentation made 
by the President in the month following his election."* 
If the President is prevented fulfilling his duties, the 
Vice-President acts for him. Should he die or resign, 
a new President is to be elected within a month. 

* Meaning (as I understand) elected by the Assembly on the 
President's nomination. 



504 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

The Council of State is to consist of forty members 
chosen by the National Assembly. The Representa- 
tives are eligible to it. Vacancies in the Assembly 
caused by the election of members to the Council of 
State are to be filled up by new elections. 

The Judiciary. Some of the Judges are appointed 
by the President ; others by the National Assembly, 
and all for life or good behaviour. Trial by jury in 
criminal cases to be continued as already existing". 
Conflicts of power between the administrative and 
judicial authorities to be decided by a special tribunal 
of Judges (as explained) nominated every three years 
in equal numbers by each conflicting authority. 

Algeria and the French colonies are to be French 
territory and governed b}' special laws. 

The press is to be free — without censorship. All 
religions are to be allowed, and the various ministers 
of the acknowledged religions are to be paid by the 
State. 

The national debt is guaranteed. 

Slavery is abolished in all French colonies. [As 
by the Provisional Government.] The punishment of 
death is not to be inflicted for political offences. [As 
by the Provisional Government.] 

France is styled ci A Democratic Republic, one 
and indivisible;" and "all power emanates from the 
People." 

The motto of the Republic is to be "Liberty, 
Equality, Fraternity." 

a Liberty, equality, safet} r , instruction, labour, pro- 
perty, assistance" are guaranteed to all citizens. 

Under the head of "Public Force/' it is declared 
that every Frenchman owes military service in person, 
with the exceptions fixed by law. u Substitutes are 
interdicted." 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF J 848. 505 

Article 112, standing- by itself in the same chapter, 
reads thus : " The public force is essentially obedient. 
No armed force can deliberate." 

The foregoing* are among" the most important pro- 
visions and declarations of this anxiously expected 
Constitution. It consists of one hundred and thirty- 
nine articles, some running* into much detail. Those I 
bring- into view may serve to show the springs that 
will be likely to move it when underg-oing- the tests of 
practical administration. A number of its clauses are 
similar to the Constitution of the United States. Other 
parts, and those elementary, are altogether different ; 
as to be expected when different races, acting- under 
different moral and physical causes, found systems of 
government. 

The opening- words of the French Constitution 
are : — 

" In the presence of God, and in the name of the 
French people, the National Assembly proclaims and 
decrees as follows:— Declaration of Duties and 
Eights. The duties of man in society are thus 
summed up : — respect to the Constitution, obedience to 
the laws, defence of the country, the accomplishment 
of family duties, and the fraternal practice of the 
maxim, Do not unto others what you would not wish 
others to do unto you ; what you wish men to do for 
you, do unto them likewise." 

These last words all nations may agree to, as em- 
bodying the precept of universal justice as well as 
Christian morality. 

June 21. To-day the Assembly received the Report 
on the Finances from the Committee of Finance. It 
takes less favourable views of them than those held up 
by the Minister of Finance, but compliments him on 
having resisted the issue of paper money. 



506 FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

June 22. I went last night for the first time to the 
reception of M. Bastide, the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs. The attendance was not large. Of the Di- 
plomatic Corps we had none but the Danish Minister 
and the Minister from Tuscany ; but some of the Mi- 
nisters of the Government were present. They talked 
with each other as if anxiously. The tone of the 
evening* was more grave than sprightly. 

Major Poussin, the newly-appointed Minister to the 
United States, was there. With him I chiefly con- 
versed. He thought the Government uneasy at the 
present state of things. The numerous workmen out 
of employ were getting more and more discontented. 
Their discontents were inflamed at the clubs. Many 
went there from idleness. The speakers, knowing* how 
the} r felt, and harbouring bad designs, ministered to 
their discontents. These were his fears, and ; he ima- 
gined, those of the Government. 

I came away between ten and eleven o'clock. 
Driving over the bridge, the rows of lamps that skirt 
the Seine and seem to twinkle through the gardens of 
the Tuileries, with the more brilliant ones in Place de la 
Concorde, make the wide spaces of this part of Paris 
as beautiful by night as day. Every night you see 
them. They seemed to dim the moonlight. The 
allied armies were reviewed here in 1814. 

June 23. Soon after daybreak this morning I heard 
the rappel. It was beaten quickly^ and sounded as if 
from several drums beaten together. It awoke me, 
and continued to beat all around where I live until 
breakfast-time. I went out to learn the cause. Heard 
there was great alarm all over Paris. I saw National 
Guards, singly or a few together, hurrying along with 
their muskets. I then went to the office of Legation. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 507 



xroups of people fill up the streets. I attempt to go 
•ver the bridge at Place Concorde, but cannot, from 
he guard and troops that block up the way. I go to 
he bridge of the Invalides and cross there. At the 
Legation I learn there is a great insurrection. The 
•appel had been beating the generate in that part of 
he town. I return the way I went, but find it still 
p.ore difficult to reach home, from the increased num- 
bers of the military. They fill up all the approaches 
:o the National Assembly, a3 if to guard it ; and I 
earn that serious fighting is going on in various parts 
bf Paris. 

June 24. The Insurrection rages. The generate 
*\ T as beating 1 throughout the night, and the tocsin 

© © © 7 

sounded. It was chiefly at Port St. Denis, Port St. 
Martin, and streets in that quarter, and in the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine, that the Insurrection broke out. 
Barricades were raised before daylight yesterday 
mornings, and so quickly on some spots as to get ahead 
of the Government. The Insurgents even seized on 
one of the Government's depots. More barricades 
sprang up, with amazing quickness, at different points 
in the course of the morning ; and to-day the fighting 
is more deadly, and has extended to positions secured 
by the Insurgents near Notre Dame, the Sorbonne and 
the Pantheon. Cannon may be heard, and volleys of 
musketry, from my residence, which is not far from 
the Assembly. I walk out, endeavouring- to get to 
the Legation, but find it impossible. lam stopped by 
sentinels at every turn. Many have been killed, and 
more wounded, of the National Guard and troops. 
So, I am told, it is reported to the Assembly. General 

Cavaignac is commander-in-chief of the whole mili- 
© 

tary, with powers to put down the Insurrection. The 



508 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Assembly has declared itself in permanent sessior 
Several of the Eepresentatives go out to fight wit 
the National Guard, or give encouragement by thei 
presence. 

June 25. The fighting* grows more fierce and sari 
granary. Nothing- but cannon can break down th 
barricades. The Insurgents got possession of one, bu 
it was soon taken from them. 'They fight furiousl} 
and, when driven from their barricades, fight hand t 
hand with knives, sabres, or bayonets. The troop 
and National Guard fall in the greatest numbers 
the Insurgents firing upon them from houses an 
windows close by the barricades, where the street 
are narrow and houses high. The troops enter th 
houses through showers of bullets. The Insurgent 
have opened communications from house to hous 
inside, through long distances. The troops do th 
same. General Cavaignac is invested with th 
supreme Executive Authority — a dictatorship for th 
time being*. He reports constantly to the Assembl) 
He orders more troops to Paris by the railways. Th 
city is declared to be in a state of siege. The Exe 
cutive Committee of five is superseded, but does servic 
in the streets with the National Guard. Nation?] 
Guards from the new provinces come in to act wit 
those of Paris, and the Garde Mobile fight desperate! 
and suffers greatly; more than half at one barricad 
are said to have fallen. 

I cannot get to the Legation ; but in the afte 
part of the da}^ I walked out in the streets near me 
All is silent, like a city of the dead. You hear not ; 
word. You see nothing* but cavalry at the corners 
the men sitting on their horses, with up-raised swords 
to close all circulation through the_ streets. I mak 






FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 509 

'iiy way with difficulty as far as Mr. Bidgway's, by 
airing* a roundabout course. This stoppage of circu- 
lation is especially strict around the districts where the 
! ght rages, that reinforcements or aid of any kind may 
] >e cut off from the Insurgents and their escape pre- 
sented when vanquished. 

June 26. The Insurrection continues, but is losing 
ground. The Mayor of Paris writes to the Assembly, 
lorn the Hotel de Ville, that most of the long- and 
iarrow streets from that great point to Eue St. 
Antoine were covered with barricades, which the 
droops were taking one after another, the "incredi- 
ble desperation " of the Insurgents yielding, at length, 
Id the intrepidity and discipline of the troops. Never 
^before, says the Mayor, were the streets of Paris 
Stained with so much blood. The Insurgents wanted 
^a parley for terms ; but Cavaignac would only listen 
Ffto unconditional surrender. He led in person the at- 
tack on the first barricade, and carried it. He acts 
! with great vigour and good generalship, Lamoriciere 
Raiding-. Shells have been thrown on barricades where 
^resistance was the most obstinate. The Assembly has 
'voted a grant of three millions of francs for assistance 
Ho the poorer classes unable to get bread from the state 
1 of the capital, and passed a decree that the wives and 
children of all who fall in defending the laws are 
adopted by the country. The Insurgents are well 
armed, and supplied with ball cartridge to profusion. 

At twilio-ht this evening- I walked into Eue de Lille, 
the street in which I live. Circulation is still closed 
j by the cavalry at each end ; but the street is long, and 
j in walking through it, while scarcely a human being 
j was walking there but myself, I saw women sitting 
' out by the conciergeries in little groups, making up 



510 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

bandages and scraping- lint for the wounded among 
the National Guards. The killed and wounded are 
known already to be far greater than in the Revolu- 
tion of February. At night we could hear from oui 
house the cry of the sentries in lengthened-out tones 
" Sentinelle, prenez garde a v-o-us." It passed along 
the Bank of the Seine, from sentry to sentry, until the 
ear caught only the last word, a v-o-us. The sound 
gave token that all was safe in our neighbourhood 
My residence seems in the very centre of alarms, being 
between the Assembly and the Tuileries, and in the 
neighbourhood of barracks. 

Yesterday, Sunday, the Archbishop of Paris passed 
through Rue de Lille, going by my house, on his way 
to General Cavaignac, then at the Assembly. He 
was in his ecclesiastical dress, attended by some of his 
vicars : so my servants reported, two of whom saw 
him as he passed. He desired the General's permis- 
sion to go to the barricades as a mediator with healing 
words to the combatants, in the hope of staying the 
effusion of blood. The General warned him of the 
danger. He said he could not pause on that account, 
when duty called him. The General assented, pro- 
mising all the protection possible, but alive to his 
danger. Forthwith he repaired to the scene of blood 
and mounted a barricade, the troops suspending their 
fire. Two of his vicars were by his side, and a° faith- 
ful servant behind him, who was there without his 
knowledge. His venerable form, and the olive-branch 
borne before him, touched the conscience of the In- 
surgents, and their lire stopped. Soon it recommenced. 
He stood unmoved, while bullets flew about him. At 
length he was struck, and fell, mortally wounded, his 
servant striving to catch him in his arms. There is 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 511 

.some uncertainty where the fatal bullet came from, 
the Insurgents disavowing* it ; and perhaps, in the 
confusion, it was uncertain. In dyings this noble- 
minded prelate expressed the hope of the Christian 
martyr, that his death might do good to his country. 
Alas ! the fighting continued ! Overpowering 1 numbers 
| and discipline alone put an end to it. 

June 27. Yesterday, at an early hour in the 
morning', it was announced to the Assembly that the 
Government was in possession of all the strong-holds of 
I the Insurgents, except the Faubourg- St. Antoine. As 
their resistance became more hopeless, it grew more 
r bloody. When driven from their rude, yet formidable 
' ramparts, it was supposed they intended to rally, in 
their desperation, on Montmartre, outside, thinking 1 
fresh numbers mig'ht the better join them there. 
They declared they would die fig'hting*, rather than 
surrender, except upon terms. They got possession of 
a large cannon, from which they poured a murderous 
;■ fire on the troops. The troops silenced it with howit- 
zers. Finally they gave way, but were undismayed 
to the last, many turning* round and firing* before 
throwing away their muskets. Some horse-artillery 
of the National Guards pursued ; but the cavalry was 
I able to do this more effectually, and made many 
I prisoners beyond the barriers. More were taken in 
I the streets, and in the houses from which they had 
been fighting, and from which the troops prevented 
their escape, as far as possible. Had they rallied on 
the heights of Montmartre, it was their insane hope to 
have recruited their force for a fresh struggle by night 
signals to their confederates all over Paris. 

June 28. The Insurrection appears to be now 
entirely suppressed. 



512 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

The day being* fine, I walk out to various parts of 
Paris to view the scenes of havoc and slaughter. I o-o 
to Port St. Denis, Port St. Martin, to the long* street 
St. Antoine, through which I walk, and through parts 
of other streets, not omitting Eue de Charenton, Eue 
St. Jacques, and so onward to the Sorbonne and Pan- 
theon. My son, Madison Push, Lieutenant in the 
United States Navy, who is with us on leave of 
absence from his ship, is the companion of my walk. 
We see where the numerous barricades were raised, 
defended and overthrown. Crowds of persons are 
moving along the same streets, with the same object 
as ourselves. Too plain to all are the traces of the 
sanguinary fight. Houses shattered by cannon-balls ; 
many, many more, so many that they could not easily 
be counted, riddled through all the woodwork bv the 
musketry of the troops and National Guard. We 
were only left to imagine those fierce hand-to-hand 
struggles where so many were killed. The horrors of 
a battle-field, where the dead, the wounded and the 
dying* are left exposed, we did not see ; but it was the 
battle-field of a dense city, where the slain and wounded 
were borne off as they fell, replete with horrors less, 
common, but not less frightful. 

We also passed along the Boulevards, Place Con- ' 
corde, and Champs Elysees in parts where, although 
there was no actual fighting, every thing* bespoke the 
conflict there had been. The siege is still kept up ; 
and those spacious thoroughfares where the g*ay and 
fashionable of Paris and Europe throng in their 
equipages and morning promenades, and along* which 
I passed in my carriage, when all was so silent, in 
groin 2; home from the Foreign Office, the very nio-ht 
before the Insurrection, now look like half-abandoned 






FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 513 

encampments. Scattered wisps of ha} T and the litter 
of cavalry, horses tied to iron palisades, detachments 
of infantry, their arms stacked, the men lying* down 
on straw, looking* jaded, some asleep, after this din of 
battle, — such is the picture of these streets now. 

In the Assembly to-day, General Cavaig-nac resigned 
his extraordinary powers. The Assembly passed a 
vote of thanks to him, and a decree confiding 1 to him 
the whole Executive power, with authority to appoint 
the Ministers. These votes went through amidst the 
loudest cheers and clapping* of hands, the members all 
rising and waving their hats as well as cheering. 
The General went to the tribune (his appearance pro- 
ducing* fresh acclamations), and asked leave to propose 
that the thanks should include the g*allant army and 
National Guards, and various g*eneral officers who had 
so devotedly seconded him in his efforts to quell the 
Insurrection. His proposition was received with 
another burst of applause. 

In the evening* sitting*, he announced to the Assembly 
the names he had selected for the new Cabinet, which 
I need not recapitulate, as chang*es may occur. Some 
of the old members, whom the Insurrection found there, 
are continued. All resigned when the u Executive 
Committee" ceased to exist by General Cavaig-nac's 
investiture with the supreme command. 

June 29. Soon after the Assembly met, the Presi- 
dent proceeded to read the draft of an address to the 
French nation, which had been prepared by order of 
the Chamber. Its first words are " Frenchmen, anar- 
chy has been overcome ! Paris is still standing* ! 
Justice shall have its coarse 1" It g*oes on : " Honour 
to the courage and patriotism of the National Guards 
of Paris, and -of the departments; to the brave and ever 

2 L 



514 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

g*lorious army ; to the young* and intrepid Garde Mo- 
bile ; to the pupils of the schools ; and to the innu- 
merable volunteers who threw themselves into the 
breach for the defence of order and liberty." " The 
attacks of these new barbarians were," it says, a ag*ainst 
the civilization of the nineteenth century ; in their code, 
family was but a name, and property spoliation ; but 
the Republic, the work of God, the living* law of huma- 
nity, could not perish j they (the Assembly) swear it 
in the name of France, and by all those noble victims 
who fell b} r their fratricidal hands." These are some 
of the words of the address. It appeals to all French- 
men to unite in love of their country ; to remove the 
last vestiges of civil discord ; " to maintain firmly the 
conquests of liberty and democrac}', and to let nothing- 
induce them to depart from the principles of their Re- 
volution." When the reading was concluded, all the 
members rose, crying, Vive la Republique ! 

At this sitting, the President also read, in the 
form of a decree, a tribute to the Archbishop of Paris, 
in these words : 

u That the National Assembly regards it as a duty 
to proclaim the sentiment of religious gratitude and, 
profound affliction which it feels for the devotedness 
shown by the Archbishop of Paris; and for his death, 
so heroic, so holy." It was adopted unanimously, 
amidst evident marks of deep feeling* throughout the 
Assembly. 

July 5. A member of the late Government having 
insinuated in the Assembly, on the breaking* out of the 
Insurrection, that foreign g-old had something 1 to do with 
it, the British Ambassador, in a note to the Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, protested strongly against any 
possible application of the words to his country. M. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848, 515 

Bastide replied, that the opinion of his Government, as 
well as his own, was, that Her Majesty the Queen was 
too just to have taken any part in exciting' the frightful 
events in Paris ; and says to Lord Normanby that he 
would see with the greater pleasure publicity given to 
this declaration and Lord Normanby's note, as it would 
be a new proof of the sentiments of reciprocal friend- 
ship which animated the two Governments. 

July 8, The funeral of the Archbishop of Paris 
took place yesterday. The concourse was great. De- 
tachments of the military headed the procession. 
Various religious communities, with the clergy of Paris 
and its environs, followed. Black banners were car- 
ried, on which were inscribed the dying words of the 
Prelate. The body was borne by National Guards, 
the face being left uncovered ; and six bishops were 
pall-bearers. Members of the National Assembly, 
headed by their President, attended, and deputations 
from various bodies of the State. The service was per- 
formed at the Cathedral, and is said, with the mournful 
music, to have been very touching. 

Having mentioned the principal events of the Insur- 
rection, closing with the sad ceremony just noted, I 
will succinctly advert to some of its causes and possible 
consequences, as my impressions of both were imparted 
to my Government after it was over. 

The Provisional Government gave instant relief, and 
promised employment to the workmen of Paris and its 
vicinity suddenly thrown out of employment by the 
Eevolution. This, as a temporary measure to supply 
the wants of a large class in danger of starving, was 
natural ; more especially as these men did their pro- 
portion of the fighting in the cause that brought them 
to want. But, under the maxims and movements of the 

2l2 



51G FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Revolution, the Provisional Government established 
national workshops, and undertook to provide work in 
them for these masses of the French population, as part 
of the policy of the new Republic. This doctrine had 
long- been inculcated in the writing's of the Socialists, 
and they thought the time had arrived for putting* it 
in practice. English Socialists came over to aid their 
French brethren in the work. That some who held 
this creed were sincere, ought not to be doubted ; but 
it cannot be supposed all were. The national work- 
shops, in which work was to be provided, did not accom- 
plish the object. They did not, and could not, employ 
every body. All who worked in them were paid two 
francs a-day. This was too little for good workmen, 
and too much for bad. The work was badly done ; 
and the accumulating excess of workmen who p*ot no 
employment, was thrown as a charity upon the Govern- 
ment at some inferior allowance , that its promise might 
not be wholly broken. This made a heavy ao-o-reo-ate 
of expense to the Government without satisfying the 
workmen 3 and the consequence was discontent among 
all. For the first days after the Revolution their con- 
duct was orderly, and for a longer time they submitted 
patiently. But idleness had created bad habits, and. 
actual or approaching want was beg'inning to render 
some among* them turbulent. Evil-minded persons 
fomented their discontent, took them to the clubs, 
and worked upon their passions. Many desired to 
separate from the main body and seek work as they 
could find it in Paris or in the country ) but this was 
not allowed by their more resolute companions or by 
the clubbists, who kept them in Paris. The Govern- 
ment sent some into the Provinces. This they did not 
like, and tried to resist; which made more bad blood. 




FKENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 517 

Thing's under such a system were tending from bad to 
worse. The Provisional Government saw the difficulty, 
without being- able to escape from it fast enoug'h to 
appease all the bad passions ripening- for explosion. 
Finally, the same body of men whose humanity and 
forbearance in February, when the Revolution raged, 
were a theme of admiration, and whose obedience to 
the laws was witnessed for a month afterwards, were 
converted into instruments for oversetting* the National 
Assembly for a brief moment on the loth of May, and 
for this terrible Insurrection in June. This may be 
taken, as it appears to me, as an outline of the most 
important of its proximate causes. 

It was, indeed, a terrible insurrection. My sum- 
mary entries while it was in progress do not tell half 
its horrors. The number of the Insurgents has been 
estimated at from thirty to fifty thousand. General 
Cavaignac said in the Assembly a few days ago that 
no one reckoned it beyond fifty thousand ; from which 
it would seem that he inclined to that number rather 
than a lower one. If a medium be struck, it leaves an 
appalling number, when it is considered that all were 
efficient for fighting and fought protected by walls and 
stone barricades. The army in Paris was twenty-five 
thousand strong when the fighting began, and con- 
sisted of the war battalions and other troops in hig'h 
discipline. The regulars were increased as the fighting 
continued. The National Guard and volunteers more 
than doubled, it is believed, the number of regulars. 
It seems admitted that the barricades were reared at 
the two points for carrying the Hotel de Ville and 
National Assembly ; that some were admirably con- 
structed, and that the Insurgents obeyed signals and 
orders which passed quickly through their lines from 



5 IB FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

their leaders, and were suited to their objects. All 
this may be explained by remembering that from their 
great numbers, many among them must have seen ser- 
vice in the conscription. Hence their effective disci- 
pline, attested by their withstanding for four days and 
nights military forces largely outnumbering their own, 
and directed by veterans who brought against them 
all the apparatus of war. They even perforated with 
loopholes the city wall of Paris, at proper distances, 
where the wall is ten or twelve feet high, and kept up 
through these loopholes, which they took care should 
bear on some of their strong barricades, a fire upon the 
troops, which the latter could not return— the Insur- 
gents getting outside of the barriers when firing. 

Of the killed and wounded among them, hardly any 
thing appears to be yet known. Of the killed and 
wounded in the army, Guards and volunteers, no au- 
thentic list has } r et appeared ; but the number must be 
fearful, when four generals were killed and seven 
wounded, a majority of whom, it is said, fought in 
Algeria. An estimate of the number has been roughly 
made at fronx seven to ten thousand. Of members of the 
Assembly, four are among the dead, and five wounded. 

The Insurrection has left behind it difficulties, if not 
dangers. Its watchwords were, Down with the Assem- 
bly I Vive la Republique Democratique et Sociale ! 
It hung* out the red flag*. Six thousand, some say i 
eight thousand, were captured ; but greatly more 
escaped, notwithstanding the precautions of the army 
for hemming them in. On some of the women of the 
Insurgent force captured by the troops were found 
deadly weapons, as well as the ammunition they 
carried for the use of the insurgents. 

The overthrow of the " Executive Committee " is a 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 519 

tiew starting-point in the administrative power of the 
Republic. Anticipations of what is to come baffle all ; 
and the remark I now hear most frequently is, though 
jit may look like a paradox, that nothing' is certain 
except the uncertainty that hangs over the political 
future of France. Speaking- of the present, it is evi- 
dent that great changes have been working- in men's 
minds. At the first general election in April, M. 
Thiers cautiously sought a candidateship for the As- 
sembly, but failed ; and none could have imagined that 
Louis Napoleon would ever be a candidate. At the 
special elections in June, both were chosen. The sen- 
sation the latter then created, would not have lived a 
moment in the political atmosphere of Paris in February 
or March. The continued prostration of industry 
and credit ; the reduced means of individuals ; the di- 
minished revenues and increased expenses of the State ; 
an increasing want of confidence felt by all, with under- 
tones of discontent advancing more and more to utter- 
ance — these, with plots and new combinations of bad 
men for bad purposes, have all been tending to impair 
the hopes which the Revolution at first created. Those 
who cherished them are reluctantly brought to perceive 
that the future is not only full of uncertaint}^ but 
overcast with gloom. The Insurrection is crushed, 
but the Insurgents live ; and live with hatred in their 
heart?.. The Assembly passed a decree for banishing 
all who were captured ; but to send off to remote seas 
and islands six or eight thousand of them w r ould not 
be easy. It may prove more difficult, though orders 
for it have gone forth, to disarm all the malcontents 
among an excited and spirited people accustomed to 
have arms, but in whose hands it might now be unsafe 
to leave them. Such words are discouraging. T hough 



520 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

military power, directed by a strong- hand, defeated this 
formidable Insurrection, the feeling* may reappear 
under other forms of trouble and revenue. The 
French commonalty, once roused, are quick to move, 
brave to ferocity when their blood is up, and fertile in 
expedients. Their prowess shown in the Insurrection, 
although it did not triumph, may have revived tradi- 
tions of the old Revolution, and roused guilty hopes in 
bad men who will always find leaders. These are fore- 
boding's that steal into anxious minds. They cannot 
be kept down after what has happened. Martial law 
is still in operation in Paris, General Cavaignac recom- 
mending' it ; and his voice is now the most potent. 
Too true it also is that society at large has come to feel 
more safe under its shield. 

Others say that the suppression of the Insurrection, 
however deplorable the cost, will be productive of good 
to the Republic, in a face-to-face conflict, over the 
dangerous doctrines which Revolution stirred up ; that 
such a conflict was inevitable, and best that it should 
have come when it did. This opinion receives counte- 
nance from the facts that not only were the National 
Guards of Paris hearty and unflinching-, but that those 
from the Provinces hurried to the capital to share in 
putting- down the Insurrection; and that even the rural 
population, inspired by the same good feeling-, were 
seen to go forward in the cause of law and order. The 
cry of Vive la Republique still g-oes up, in the Assem- 
bly and out of doors, on every occasion to excite it. It 
has been uttered from the beginning 1 by those who did 
not believe in a Republic for France. That this class 
has been growing* larger is evident ; yet all seem bent 
on giving the Republic a fair trial, which it will have, 
they say. when the new Constitution comes into being, 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 521 

and not until then. Count Montalembert, M. Dupin, M. 
i Thiers, Odillon Barrot, Leon Faucher, Victor Hugo, 
3J and others of high name in the Assembly are favourable 
to a double Legislative Chamber. Should this alteration 
be made in the Constitution before its final adoption by 
the Assembly, speaking* as an American, I should 
have higher hopes of its successful operation. Will the 
declaration which guarantees labour to "all citizens" 
- be retained, after the experience of the Insurrection, 
which grew out of the Government's being able to pro- 
vide labour for all having promised it to all ? I am not 
able to reply to an inquiry so natural. 

And where is now the Executive Committee of 
Five ; they who dispensed the whole Executive power 
of France; who received Foreign Ministers and ap- 
pointed them? Where is de Lamartine, who was all in 
all? who rode in the whirlwind and at first kept down 
the fury of the storm ? who saved society by his 
courage and a flash of eloquence ? — who kept peace at 
home and abroad, receiving plaudits from all but the 
Red Eepublicans, the most dangerous of whom he 
defied and tamed? Where is he? Hardly seen, or 
seen only as a star setting. But the good he did 
cannot soon be forgotten. His genius is left to him ; 
and he knows the delights of literature ) a fondness 
for which revolutions can neither give nor take away. 
But I turn from thoughts which involuntarily 
spring up from what passes around me, whatever may 
be their errors. None can understand a country, or 
have full claim to speak of its future, but those who 
belong to it, or live in it long enough to catch its whole 
genius and characteristics. There are times when even 
these are brought to a stand in judging — get perplexed 
by complications they cannot disentangle. How much 



522 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

more liable to err is the transient person ! How often 
are those of other countries baffled in passing* judgment 
upon the condition of England ! How often, and often 
how soon, are predictions respecting- her resources and 
prospects overset by opposite results ! There come 
persons to the United States who carry away opinions 
which, to ourselves, seem mistakes at every turn — 
wrong- inferences from imperfect knowledge even 
where truth may be honestly sought. How then 
can strangers hope to look into the veiled future of 
France ? 

July 10. To-day I dined at the Marquis Brignoli's, 
the Sardinian Ambassador ; the first time I have dined 
out since the close of February. It was a treat to get 
back to quiet intercourse with the Diplomatic Corps, 
after the boisterous scenes France has been going 
through ; and I regretted the unavoidable absence of 
my daughters, who were to have been with me. I do 
not hear much of social intermingling among its mem- 
bers since the hurricane that scattered us all. Those 
here to-day had each a little to say on what has been 
passing*. I learned that the Sardinian Government 
recognised the Eepublic two days ago. Eather a 
large evening-party assembled in the rooms after din- 
ner. Humours floated through them that another out- 
break of some kind was expected on the 14th of this 
month, being the annivers ary of the destruction of the 
Bastile. 

M. George Lafayette, who was chosen a Vice-Pre- 
sident of the National Assembly the early part of June, 
to fill the vacancy created by M. Bethmont's appoint- 
ment as Minister of Justice, was elected again to that 
station since the present month came in. The vote for 
him was largest among several candidates. I mention 



i 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 523 

vith renewed pleasure this second tribute to him from 
he Assembly. 

July 12. Yesterday the Assembly passed a bill, by 

in overwhelming- vote, for the formation of a camp of 

ifty thousand troops to be stationed within the city or 

ts environs. The measure was proposed by General 

Oavaignac some days ago. 

Secondly. The Press has been laid under restric- 
tions beyond any in the time of the Monarchy. The 
Abbe de Lamennais gives up his paper in consequence 
bf one of them— the caution-money required ; saying*, 
lie had not gold enough to pay it. 

Thirdly. The political clubs are all to be bridled. 
A bill to this effect has been brought forward in the 
Assembly by the Minister of the Interior. Citizens are 
at liberty to open a club, provided they make a prelimi- 
nary declaration of their intentions to the Prefect of 
Police at Paris, and to the Mayor of the commune in 
all the departments; all sittings to be public, with ample 
accommodation to be reserved for those not members ; 
a Government functionary of the Eepublic to have the 
privilege of attending, and a seat to be always specially 
. reserved for him ; a record of the proceedings of each 
sitting to be drawn up by the President and Secretary; 
no club ever to resolve itself into a secret committee, 
or entertain any proposition tending to excite disturb- 
ance or civil war. These are its chief provisions, with 
penalties to secure their observance. The bill can hardly 
fail to become a law in all its essential parts. 

The Insurrection dictated these measures. An ap- 

propriation was proposed for another object, which the 

Insurrection has made necessary. It was that six 

hundred and seventy thousand francs (670,000) be 

' granted in aid of the Theatres and Opera, crippled by 



524 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

the late turmoils. A bill for carrying" into effect thi 
grant may be expected to pass, if the other bills pass 
What opposite things are seen in this metropolis 
The contrast is often beautiful ; sometimes startling- 
Places of amusement unrivalled ; renowned schools o 
literature and art ; a National Library incalculable ii 
value, the very manuscripts of which, ancient and mo 
dern, fill a hundred thousand volumes ; the richest en 
dowments for fostering science; the most beneficen 
establishments for alleviating- human misfortune anc 
misery, under whatever forms seen ; so that the phi 
lanthropist, the profound philosopher, the deep student 
the curious in the fine arts, the votary of fashion, al 
come to Paris as a place where something useful ma\ 
be learned or something agreeable enjoyed, something 
to stimulate the intellect or incite to pleasure. Then 
again, are seen Governments uprooted and thrown tc 
the winds with scarcely a moment's warning; con- 
sternation and horror appearing on the stage with 
enthusiasm and hope; the good and bad principle 
springing into activity and contending for the mastery 
plots and strife getting to work ; want and starvation 
stalking about ; passion let loose ; conflicts following 
in quick succession ; representatives of the people, 
chosen in the fairest possible manner, driven from their Ji 
seats ; blood flowing in the streets like water ; all true 
liberty attacked— suspended — and when or how to be I 
reinstated no one knows. Both sides of this picture 
have been visible in Paris since I began these memor- 
andums. 

July 14. The anniversar} r of the destruction of the 
Bastile comes and goes without an outbreak. 

July 18. I went this evening to the reception of 1 
General Cavaignac, at his new residence, Rue de, | 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 525 



^arennes. It was the first since his ascent to the 
Executive power. The Minister of Foreign Affairs 
„ad notified the Foreign Ministers that he would hold 
ne ; and great was the attendance of army officers, 
ihose of the National Guard, and other persons, includ- 
ing Ministers of State. I presented to him Mr. 
ptanton, Secretary of Legation, and my son. He 
'eceived numerous congratulations from those who 
bad no opportunity of offering* them before, and re- 
ceived them with soldierly grace, heightened by a com- 
manding person. 

July 24. The National Assembly opened to-day 
with an Address to the members by M. Marrast, the 
new President under the monthly routine of election. 
After acknowledging the honour conferred upon him 
| by electing him to the chair, he said it was owing to 
their energy, and that of the Executive, that they were 
now able to pursue their deliberations, when peace not 
only reigned in the streets, but was gradually return- 
ing to the public mind. He paid tributes to their 
gallant colleagues who had shed their blood in the 
cause of the Republic, and, after other appropriate 
remarks, sat down amidst marks of approbation. 

The main business of the sitting was the passing of 
a bill for a loan of one hundred and seventy-five 
millions of francs, or two hundred, as the case might 
be, at the price of seventy-five francs twenty-five 
centimes. These terms were not considered the best, 
but agreed best with the wants of the treasury and 
present state of the public credit. The Minister of 
Finance so expressed himself, frankly. 

July 31. Last week the proper Bureau made report 
to the Assembly that, on examining the case of Louis 
Napoleon Bonaparte, elected a Representative for 



520 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Corsica, the proceeding's were found to be regular, an< 
that he was entitled to take his seat under thi 
election. 

The President then read a letter addressed to hin 
by Louis Napoleon Bonaparte from London. It rai 
thus :— That he had just learned that, notwithstanding 
his former resignation, he had been elected to th 
Assembly for Corsica ; that, although deeply gratefu 
for this mark of confidence, the reasons which force* 
him to refuse the post of Representative for the Seine 
Yonne and Charante-Inferieure still existed, and im 
posed on him another sacrifice ; that, without renounc 
ing the honour of one day being a Representative o 
the People, he thought he ought not to return to hi 
country, until his presence in France could in n 
manner serve as a pretext to the enemies of the Re 
public; he trusted that his disinterestedness woul< 
prove the sincerity of his patriotism, and it was hi 
wish that those who accused him of ambition might b 
convinced of their error. He concludes with requesting 
the President to inform the Assembly of his resignation 
as well as his regret at not being able to participat 
in its labours ; and of his ardent prayers for the happi 
ness of the Republic. 

It was not necessary to take any step under thi < 
letter 5 but when the President finished reading it 
cries of " tres-bien ! tres-bien ! " were heard through 
out the Chamber. 

August 17. Attend the reception of Genera 
Lamoriciere, Minister of War. His rooms were nearh 
filled with military officers. Most efficient were th 
services rendered by him during the Insurrection 
Trained, like Cavaignac, in Algeria, the latter paid th 
hio-hest tribute to his ability in the Assembly. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 527 

August 22. Go again to General Cavaignac's 
reception. A great crowd, as before, and chiefly of 
the military. The Marquis of JNormanby was there, 
and the Marchioness. I learn that the former pre- 
sented his credentials as Ambassador from England 
on Saturday, and was first received by General Ca- 
vaignac on that day. The step came about through 
the co-operation of England and France in a media- 
tion in the affairs of Austria and Sardinia. France 
sent a special minister to London, in the person of 
Monsieur de Beaumont, on the business of this medi- 
ation, as soon as she learned that he would be received 
in that capacity by the English Government. This 
opened a door to the renewal of diplomatic intercourse ; 
and the reception of Lord Normanby, by the Execu- 
tive Head of the French Government followed on the 
19th of this month. Such is the information I get. 
England, shy in the beginning, was also wise. She 
felt the importance of keeping* alive her intercourse 
with France, though the Monarchy had fallen ) for the 
Nation stood. France, proud and sensitive, could not 
but feel the advantage of not breaking with England 
when the Revolution came. England again had her 
people scattered in thousands throughout Paris, and 
other cities and towns of France, spending their money 
for pleasurable and other purposes ; and larg'e bands 
of her labouring men working on French railroads ; 
not to speak of international interests, otherwise link- 
ing two such neighbouring countries together in wa}~s 
beneficial to both. Business operations between them 
have, therefore, gone on from the first. M. de Lamar- 
tine, while at the head of the movement, acted in 
concert with Lord Normanby, in so sensible a course, 
until matters have ripened into the recognition stated. 



528 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Auo'iist 24. Dine at M. Bastide's, Minister of Fo- 
reign Affairs. It was a very large dinner, given to 
the Diplomatic Corps, members of the Cabinet, and 
other official persons, including members of the As- 
sembly. Among the latter were M. Drouyn del'Huys, 
chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations, M. 
George Lafayette, and his son Oscar Lafayette. It 
was the first entertainment of the kind given since the 
Eepublic was proclaimed. Appearances were much 
the same as in the days of M. Guizot. 

General Cavaignac came to the drawing-rooms after 
dinner. Other company also came. General Cavaignac 
acts as President of the Council of Ministers, as the 
adjunct of his higher station as Executive head of the 
Eepublic. I finished the evening by going with my 
friend, M. Lafayette, to the soiree of the President 
of the National Assembly, where there was a brilliant 
assemblage of ladies, and a concert. 

September 2. Dined at M. Marrast's, President ol 
the National Assembly ; an entertainment larger than 
the one at M. Bastide's, and given to the Executive 
head of the Government, the Foreign Ministers, mem- 
bers of the Cabinet, members of the Assembly, and 
others. The dining-room and suite in connection were 
extremely rich in architecture and the hangings. The} 
were once part of the old palace of the Prince o: 
Conde, renovated and fitted up, in the wing or pcrtior 
where we assembled, for the official residence of th( 
President of the National Assembly. The whoh 
suite, blazing: with light from chandeliers, ornate 
lamps, and candelabra, presented a contrast to th< 
relative simplicity of the rooms in which M. Sauzet 
as President of the Chamber of Deputies, entertainec 
the Diplomatic Corps and home functionaries at dinner 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 529 

ig mentioned in a former page, a few days before the 
(King's fall. 

September 9. My memorandum of to-day is of a 
(inner at the Marquis of Normanby's, the first at the 
JBritish Embassy since the Revolution, as far as known 
to me ; and as it was given to General Cavaignac in 
lis capacity of Executive Head of the Republic, I the 
rather make a memorandum of it. 

General Cavaignac's Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

fcl. Bastide ; General Lamoriciere, his* Minister of 

War, and Madame Lamoriciere ; General Changarnier, 

Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard ; a good 

.portion of the Diplomatic Corps, and some English 

gentlemen, made up the company. I do not name all, 

,not knowing all. Twenty or more appeared to be 

present. General Cavaignac led the Marchioness of 

JNormanby to the table, and Lord Normanby Madame 

Lamoriciere. My chair was next to General Cavaig- 

( nac, Lord Normanby assigned it to me. 

In the conversation I had with General Cavaigmac, 
he said, that because the former Republic of France 
j was attended by wars and commotion, persons thought 
j it would be the same now ; but it should not be, if he 
I could prevent it. He was for peace, and for a Re- 
public over all other forms of government. He paid 
- a compliment to the United States, which it was not 
for me to disown or question the sincerity of, his ante- 
cedents having- bound him to the Republican faith ; 
althouom not to its dangerous extremes, as all know. 

This happened to be my first dinner at an English 
table in Paris, though not the first time I and my 
daughters had received cards to dine at this table. 
Notwithstanding the just fame of France in social 
refinements, English dinners seem to have an advan- 

2 M 



530 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

tage in being- smaller, which is more favourable tc 
conversation and tranquillity, if I may so express it 
I am, however, an incompetent judge, having- been tc 
fewer French dinners than English, and to very few 
in unofficial life; while in London private dinner- 
parties are constant, the Diplomatic Corps sharing 
largely in them. A profusion of rich plate was or 
the table this evening, which is more the Englisl 
usage ; porcelain predominating on French tables! 

I will close this entry with a little incident, hoping 
the allusion to it will not infringe upon propriety. At 
English Peer sat on the other side of me. We goi 
into conversation, and he asks me to take wine. Ir 
accepting, I tell him I am thankful 5 for although ] 
had been in Paris a year, and seen beautiful dinners 
it was the first time I had been asked to drink a glas* 
of wine. Was it national? The Anglo-Saxon rac< 
on our side of the Atlantic did it, and now I woulc 
hope to infer, from the kind challenge of my neigh 
bour, that the custom was not dead in Old England 
It was not, he said. Whenever you caught the ey< ; 
you wanted across the table, and took up your glass 
you were understood, and your friend filled too. Th< 
custom came from good feeling, I thought ; and sc I 
thought my English friend through whose courteous 
act I was able to welcome it in Paris. 

September 10. Dine at General Cavaignac's. AI 
the Diplomatic Corps were there, I believe,— all, ai 
least, whose Governments have recognised the Repub- 
lic,— and many military officers. I observed none 
of the Cabinet, except M. Bastide, Minister of Foreign 
Affairs. 

My place at table was next to General Cavaignac, 
who desired me to take it as we entered the dining- 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1843. 531 

room. Our conversation touched upon England, to 
the freedom of whose institutions he did justice. I 
learned from the Sardinian Ambassador, who was near 
me, that General Cavaignac spoke the Italian and 
Spanish languages, and had nearly mastered the 
Arabic. The latter he had acquired at snatches of 
leisure during* his campaigns in Algeria. 

I informed General Cavaignac of a letter addressed 
to him by the President of the United States, which 
had reached me only to-day, in answer to one from 
him to the President conveyed by M. Poussin, 
Minister of the Republic at Washington ; and that 
after dinner I would ask M. Bastide to take his 
directions as to the time when I mig-ht have the 
honour of delivering it to him. He replied, off-hand, 
that he would receive it to-morrow, at twelve o'clock, 
not knowing- of any other engagement to prevent him. 

I mentioned this to M. Bastide, and asked at what 
hour I might call on him in the morning* with a copy 
of the letter before I delivered it, — the form usual when 
letters are written by heads of Governments to each 
other. He appointed nine o'clock. 

In the drawing-room, after dinner, I spoke also to 
General Cavaignac on re-establishing* the consulate at 
Boston, stating its importance from the population and 
commerce of Boston. The subject seemed new to him, 
and he was not aware of the reasons for abolishing 
the French consulate there, but would talk with M. 
Bastide and inform himself on the subject. I also 
used the opportunity to express a hope that Mr. 
Isnard's desire to be reappointed consul at that port 
might be favourably viewed, in case the French Go- 
vernment had formed no wishes for a new appointment, 
as, by the representations made to me, he had per- 

2 m 2 



532 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1548. 

formed his duties in a manner altogether acceptable to 
the commercial community of Boston. 

September 17. As I leave my house to call on M. 
Bastide, I receive a note from him regretting that he 
cannot see me at nine, having-, since we parted last 
evening*, been summoned to attend a meeting' of the 
Council at General Cavaignac's this morning ; which 
also breaks up my appointment there at twelve o'clock. 
Nevertheless, I go to the office of Foreign Affairs and 
leave for M. Bastide a copy of the President's letter, 
as promised, adding that I will be ready to deliver the 
original at any time convenient to General Cavaignac. 

The 28th of the month was afterwards named as the 
day ; but when I called on that day General Cavaig- 
nac was confined to his bed by indisposition. The 
President's letter called for no act on his part, my 
reception by the Republic being already established. 
It contained renewed expressions of friendly hope for 
the prosperity and duration of the Republic under the 
new Constitution in course of formation ; replied in 
appropriate terms to the friendly tone of General 
Cavaignac's letter transmitted by M. Poussin, and 
spoke of the latter as formerly known and esteemed in 
the United States, and as having acted with usefulness 
in their service. These sentiments being all before 
General Cavaignac in the copy of the letter I had 
furnished, it was agreed in the end that a personal 
delivery of the original had become only matter of 
form, and might be dispensed with. 

September 30. Prince Louis Napoleon here comes 
again into these desultory notes. 

The elections for the National Assembly, held in 
Paris on the 19th of this month, resulted in his being 
returned by a larger vote than was given to any of 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 533 

I 

the other candidates chosen on the same day. This 
renewed and large confidence induced him to leave 
London ; and, acting- no longer on the principle of 
resigning*, he became a member of the Assembly on 
the 2Gth of the month. Surprise and curiosity per- 
vaded the Chamber as he entered by one of the side 
J doors, and, for the first time, took his seat as a mem- 
ber, by sitting- down at the side of M. Vieillard, his 
former tutor. All eyes turned to that part of the 
Chamber. Some little bustle followed, which the 
President checked by a call on the members to keep 
silence. 

M. Clement went to the tribune, and reported to the 
Assembly that he had been charged by his bureau to 
declare the election of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte; 
that it was regular \ that no opposition was made to 
it, and that the bureau recommended his admission, 
provisionally, until he should justify his age and 
nationality. 

Cries that the case should be sent back to the 
bureau for an unequivocal report. 

M. Vivien rose and stated that the bureau was 
satisfied of the validity of the election, and that the 
members of it then present in the house all agreed 
that an absolute declaration in favour of his admission 
might have been made, the notoriety of his age and 
nationality supplying the place of documents. He 
therefore proposed that the election be proclaimed valid, 
and that the citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte be 
admitted to his seat. Cries of Yes, yes, came from 
the Chamber ; and it now became evident that there 
would be no opposition to his taking his seat at once. 

Louis Napoleon then rose from the seat he had 
taken, and requested permission to speak. Members 



534 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

from all parts of the Chamber exclaimed, " To the 
tribune ! to the tribune ! " 

He left his seat, and, ascending* the tribune, read 
from a paper the address following-: Citizen Repre- 
sentatives, — It is not permitted to me to keep silence 
after the calumnies of which I have been the object. 
I want to express here frankly, and on the first day 
that I am permitted to sit among* you, the true senti- 
ments which animate me — which have always ani- 
mated me. After thirty } T ears of proscription and 
exile, I at last recover my country, and all my rights 
of a citizen. The Republic has given me this happi- 
ness : let the Republic receive my oath and gratitude ; 
my oath of devotedness. And may my generous 
countr3 T men who have brought me into this Assembly 
be certain that I shall endeavour to justify their votes 
by labouring with you for the maintenance of tran- 
quillity, that first necessity of the country, and for the 
development of the democratic institutions which the 
people have a right to demand. Long have I been 
prevented from devoting to France more than the 
meditations of my exile and captivity. At present the 
career in which you are all advancing is open to me 
also. Receive me, my dear colleagues, into your ranks 
with the same sentiment of affectionate confidence that 
I bring with me here. My conduct, always inspired 
by duty — alwa} T s animated by respect for the law — 
will prove, in relation to the passions which have 
endeavoured to blacken my character in order again 
to proscribe me, that no one here more than myself is 
resolved to devote himself to the defence of order and 
freedom of the Republic. 

The address was received with marks of approbation. 
He returned to his seat ; and, although no strong sen- 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 535 

sation was roused, it was the incident of the da} r . 
Other business grew languid, and the Assembly rose 
without a lengthened sitting*. I did not hear the 
address. A member told me that it was read dis- 
tinctly, with a firm voice, though not with a pronun- 
! ciation purely French, but tinged with the German. 

October 10. In the Assembly yesterday, the new 
Constitution being under discussion, the President read 
an amendment proposed by M. A. Thouret, in these 
words : u No member of the families which have 
reigned in France can be elected President or Vice- 
President of the Republic. " 

The mover of the proposition advocated it in a few 
words. Another member, M. Woirhaye, rose and 
stated that the subject of the amendment had been 
under consideration in the committee and rejected ; 
for, although it was thought that royalist and imperial 
families were not the best qualified for acting upon 
Republican ideas, the democratic principle was too 
deeply rooted in the country to cause fears to be enter- 
tained of what were called pretenders. 

Other members spoke, some one waj T , some another. 

Louis Napoleon ascended the tribune, and briefly 
said that he did not come to speak against the amend- 
ment, or make complaint of calumnies ; but, in the 
name of the 300,000 electors who had chosen him, to 
disavow the appellation of pretender so constantly 
brought against him. 

M. A. Thouret hereupon said, that after that de- 
claration he considered the amendment useless, and 
withdrew it. Nevertheless it was put to the vote, and 
rejected ; Louis Napoleon not voting upon it. 

October 16. After the Republic came in, I was 
charged by the Secretary of State to give attention 



536 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

to the subject of the tohacco monopoly. I brought it 
to the notice of M. Bastide, who gave me no encourage- 
ment, but the reverse. The new Government wanted, 
he said, all the revenue attainable, and could not afford 
to part with so considerable an item as tobacco yielded, 
— but intimated his willingness to look more into the 
subject hereafter. I brought it to the notice of M. 
Drouyn de rHu} T s, chairman of the Committee of 
Foreign Relations in the National Assembly, with no 
better success, his reasons being- much the same ; and 
I lost no opportunity of introducing it as a topic in my 1 
intercourse with such members of the Assembly as I 
thought might be likely to appreciate what I said 
about it. None gave much attention to the doctrine I 
held up, that b} T admitting* our tobacco under a mode- 
rate but fair duty, its increased importation into France 
might result beneficially to the trade of both countries. 
That might or might not follow ; but loss of present 
revenue would be certain if the} T changed the laws re- 
lating to tobacco. It was in this way all my advances 
were met. 

But still more to the point : — On the 22nd of June, 
M. Thouret laid a proposition before the Assembly that 
the sale of tobacco and snuff should no lono-er be exclu- 
sively in the hands of the Government, but be open 
and free. The proposition did not receive twenty-five 
votes out of the whole Assembly, and thus fell to the 
ground ; that number of assenting votes being required 
before any proposition can come before the Chamber, 
even for consideration. This vote would seem to show 
that public opinion in France is in favour of the mono- 
poly, when we consider that the members have all so 
recently been chosen b} r universal suffrage throughout 
all parts of France. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 537 

The vote is discouraging- to any favourable changes 
for us in any respect, at least for the present, in the 
French tariff, over the laws regulating it in the time 
of the Monarchy. The King's words to me at St. 
Cloud, in November, that Ci a public conviction long 
entertained in France in matters of trade was not easily 
altered/' receives confirmation from this vote. The 
Provisional Government, on coming into power, abo- 
lished the Octroi, a duty on meats, liquors, and other 
things within the limits of Paris, but soon restored it. 
The Eepublic also kept up the salt tax, of which the 

1 King' recommended a reduction. These matters I 
have made known to my Government. 

It ought not to be overlooked that the Eepublic 

■ succeeded to heavy debts from the Monarchy \ and 
that these debts and other arrearages, from the subse- 
quent falling off of trade and derangement of credit, 
have been increasino* in the absence of all ability, thus 
far, to effect any reductions of them. 

October 27. Prince Louis Napoleon yesterday 
went to the tribune, and read, amidst profound silence 
throughout the Chamber, a paper to the purport 
following :— 

Addressing* the body as citizen representatives, he 
said, that the unpleasant incident which closed the dis- 
cussion of the preceding day did not allow him to keep 
silence : he deplored being obliged again to speak of 
himself; it was repugnant to his feelings to be unceas- 
ingly bringing personal matters before the Assembly, 
when not a moment was to be lost in attending to 
grave public questions. He would not speak of his 
own sentiments : they had already been explained : 
no one ever had occasion to doubt his word. As to 
his conduct in the Chamber, as he never could permit 



538 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

himself to call any of his colleagues to an account for 
what they did, he recognised in no one the right to 
demand of him explanations of his course : he owed 
that account only to his constituents. He was accused 
of accepting from the popular feeling- a candid ateship 
which he never claimed ; he accepted that honour 
because three successive elections, and the unanimous 
decree of the National Assembly agaiust the proscrip- 
tion of his family, authorized him to believe that 
France regarded the name he bore as able to aid in 
the consolidation of societ} r , shaken to its foundations, 
and make the Republic prosperous. (Loud exclama- 
tions of dissent among the members.) They who 
accused him of ambition knew little of his heart ; his 
silence was turned into a reproach against him ; it 
was only a few who were gifted with the power of elo- 
qnent language in the service of just ideas in that 
Chamber. But was there no other way of serving the 
country ? What it wanted was acts : it wanted a wise 
and firm Government, which would think more of 
healing the wounds of society than of avenging them, 
and which could overcome, better than baj^onets, 
theories not founded on experience and reason : (fresh 
dissent). He would not fall into snares set in his way ; 
he would pursue the straig'ht-forward course he had 
traced out for himself. Nothing should disturb his 
calm, nothing make him forget his duty. He had but 
one object, which was to merit the esteem of the 
Assembly and of all men of worth, and the confidence 
of a magnanimous people. He would reply, henceforth, 
to no interpellation — to no provocation. Strong in his 
own conscience, he would remain immovable under all 
attacks, impassable against all calumnies. »^ 

His allusion in the commencement was to some 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 539 

sharp-shooting* on the day preceding*, about candidates 
for the Presidency. In the course of it, he had been 
charged with having* agents in the departments appeal- 
ing* to the less enlightened portions of the people in his 
behalf. His cousins in the Assembly rose to repel the 
charge. Cries broke forth that he would go to the 
tribune and speak for himself: but he continued in his 
seat. 

During* the same sitting*, the time of holding* the 
election for President was also settled. There were 
different opinions on this point : some were for a day 
in November, some for a later day. Eminent speakers 
shared in the debate — amongst them Odillon Barrot, 
Dupin, the distinguished Count Mole, and General 
Cavaignac. The last was in favour of an early elec- 
tion, and strongly expressed his opinion that post- 
ponement a day longer than was necessary would 
be hazardous. It was finally fixed for the 10th of 
December. 

October 31. The state of siege imposed on Paris 
when the Insurrection raged, was removed on the 19th 
of this month. 

The removal was founded on the report of a com- 
mittee in the Assembly charged with the whole subject. 
It stated that, on a full examination of all the con- 
siderations belonging to it, the committee had arrived 
at the conclusion that the siege might end without any 
fresh dangers to the Eepublic ; and the Executive 
head of the Government believed that the public tran- 
quillity might now be maintained without it. The 
vote for raising it was unanimous. 

The peaceable and well-disposed people in Paris 
were hardly sensible that they were living under a 
state of siege, although it was in operation four months 



540 FEENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

within a few days. At first, all were uneasy, from a 
sort of habit, lest outbreaks should still happen, so 
common had they been since the Eevolution. This 
feeling' wore away as each successive week brought 
safety with it. Paris, in effect, was a great camp, 
though no camp was visible. Fifty thousand troops 
were collected within its limits, or were close by if 
wanted. Eleven presses were suppressed by military 
power while the siege lasted. The knowledge that the 
same power would be used against the turbulent and 
ill-disposed if they moved towards mischief, kept them 
quiet. The wise and prudent acquiesced in this course 
on the part of General Cavaignac, believing in his 
abilities and his virtue — a belief sanctioned by results. 
It made the Red Republicans his foes, and raised up 
other opposition to him among politicians. 

When the numerous arrests were made of those who 
invaded the Assembly on the 15th of May, it was sup- 
posed that the ringleaders in that conspiracy would be 
brought to trial. This has not yet been done. After 
the Insurrection in June, the Assembly appointed a ;] 
committee to inquire into all the facts belonging to ! 
that second and far greater calamity, and to couple 
with this duty a new inquiry into all the circumstances 
that might shed light upon the outrage on the 15th of 
May. 

This committee, clothed with ample powers for the I 
fullest investigations, finished its work and presented 
its report to the Assembly in August. It is a remark- i 
able document. I have looked into it from time to <j 
time, but shrink from the task of attempting the merest 
outline of its contents. It is very voluminous. Much 
of it is irrelevant. Still more of it is encumbered 
with unnecessary details and repetitions \ but portions 
of it reach back to the causes and incidents of the I 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 541 

Revolution in February. It lays bare the spring's of 
that first shock in ways, not then so well known, that 
ire startling". It shows how few were the real con- 
trivers and instruments of the Eevolution of February ; 
and, with honourable exceptions (too few these also, 
unhappily), how selfish were their motives. These 
confessions came from the contrivers and instruments 
of the movement ; a good portion of whom secured the 
personal advancement for which alone they seem to have 
rushed upon the work of overturning- the Monarchy. 
I hasten away from the reflections which these dis- 
closures, seeming to be authentic, are calculated to 
■j excite. I prefer to draw a veil over them until the 
Eepublic reaches further stages in its destination. 

November 3. Dine at Mr. Eidgway's, and after- 
wards go to the reception of the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs. The company not very large; the talk chiefly 
about Vienna. One of the Diplomatic Corps said that 
Windischgraetz, the Imperialist General, is carrying 
all before him against the Insurgents, as he called 
them, who have lately had the city in their hands ; 
but that Windischgraetz had stormed the barricades 
with his troops, and was master of the city, or soon 
would be. 

I renew to M. Bastide the wish expressed to General 
Cavaignac for the appointment of M. Isnard as French 
consul at Boston; and use all the strong words 
I can in favour of retaining Count Montholon, 
son of General Montholon, as French consul at 
Eichmond. What I say of the latter is founded 
on representations transmitted to me from Eich- 
mond of his merits, and the desire cherished by 
the citizens of that place, whose esteem he has largely 
won, that he should remain among them. 



542 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

November 7. Go to General Cavaig-nac's reception 
this evening*. I present Colonel McCall, of our army, 
and Mr. Bidg-way ; as on a former evening- I had 
presented Lieut. Percival Drayton, of our navy, and 
Mr. Corbin. 

November 13. This evening" we are at a party at 
the British Embassy. It is not large, but portions or 
the Diplomatic Corps are there. In conversing" with 
a member of it, I hear fresh hints, like those I caug-ht 
in these rooms a year ag-o, soon after my arrival, that 
Princess Lieven, though living" in Paris ostensibly in 
private life, is looking* to Bussian interests, by the 
silent appointment of the Emperor Nicholas. This 
policy, and the fair influence sought in its aid, it was' 
intimated, grew out of an old understanding- between 
the Emperor and the ex-Bourbon King-, Charles X., 
that France was not to thwart the former in his objects 
upon Constantinople, and he not to thwart France in 
making" the Mediterranean a sort of " French lake," 
after she had planted herself in Alg-eria by the success 
of French arms in the time of Charles. If this were 
so, it might lend plausibility, with some, to the alleg-ed 
silent mission of this distinguished lady. It might 
with me, but for that part of the barg-ain which would 
assign to France the control of the Mediterranean 
[Gibraltar, Malta, and English naval power withal]. 
This seems to me so visionary that my incredulity is 
not }^et overcome. 

November 18. On Sunday, the 12th of this month, 
Paris was all alive, bad as the weather was, with the 
celebration of the F£te in honour of the new Constitu- 
tion, all parts of which are completed. The prepara- 
tions for it were upon a magnificent scale, and it was 
supposed that it would much exceed in display, as I 
believe it has in cost, the one in honour of the Bepublic 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 54 3 

on the 21st of May. Immense flag-staffs, which 
floated tri-coloured flags full of Republican inscriptions 
and emblems ; a dome of great height, richly orna- 
mented, with a cross as the pinnacle ; a Statue of the 
Constitution, crowned with laurels, holding the Consti- 
tution in the left hand, and in the right hand a lance ; 
a vast assemblage of the Clergy; members of the 
National Assembl} 7 , and all other officials; troops in 
countless number ; cannon roaring* at intervals — all 
this and more was to be seen in Place de la Concorde. 
The day was raw and cold. Snow fell in large flakes, 
whitening- everything. When it stopped, sleet came 
on> then a little more snow — so that the bad weather 
hardly ceased. All the arrangements were for fine 
weather ; but sheds, open all round, roofed over, and 
elevated on flooring, were reared up with French 
quickness at fetes as in war, when the day broke with 
appearances of a storm. All was to begin at half-past 
eight in the morning. On the board floors canopied 
over, the Diplomatic Corps, where I was, and all other 
public functionaries, found partial shelter. The Pre- 
sident of the National Assembly read aloud the whole 
Constitution for such as could hear it. General Ca- 
vaignac was there in full uniform, and wore a badge 
of distinction won by his gallantry in Algeria. The 
presence of Prince Louis Napoleon was not observed 
among the members of Assembly. The weather was 
unfavourable for enthusiasm. Cries of Vive la Eepub- 
lique were few, or from those so far off" that I could 
not hear them, coming, it may be, from streets in the 
vicinity of Place de la Concorde. 

I did not hear a word of the Constitution as read 
out ; but all have seen by the papers that it is much 
the same as contained in the draft reported by the 
committee on the 19th of June, as summed up in these 



544 FEENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

notes the day following-. The single Legislative 
Chamber, single Executive, and most of the other 
elementary provisions remain as then framed^ or with 
modifications unessential. The abstract declarations 
in the beginning* are varied. 

As an accompaniment to the celebration, the fol- 
lowing document was addressed by the Minister of the 
Interior to the Prefects of all the departments in 
France : — 

That, the French Republic being now definitively 
constituted, the National Assembly had decided that 
the Constitution should be promulgated in every com- 
mune by being* read by the Mayor to the inhabitants 
assembled ; that the Constitution was placed under the 
invocation of God, and its promulgation was to be a 
political and religious ceremony ; that prayers were to 
precede or follow the reading of it by the civil Magis- 
trate, as the Bishop or other clergy might prescribe ; 
that as this gTeat national Fete ought to leave a 
souvenir among the unfortunate, the Assembly had 
appropriated four hundred thousand francs, which 
were to be equitably distributed throughout the depart- 
ments in cases only of the most poignant misery. 

Finally, the prefect of each department was to cause 
the inhabitants to understand the importance and 
solemnity of this act of a great People, who, after 
eight months of uncertainty and disquiet, had placed 
themselves under the empire of a strong and durable 
Constitution and entered definitively upon the path of 
free and regular governments. 

And may it prove so. But, as a looker-on since 
February, I cannot, with all the wishes I then had, 
and desire still to cherish, for the success of the Re- 
public,— I cannot, now that its new Constitution comes 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 545 

forth, with but one Chamber, and other anomalies to 
an American, easily yield my assent to any encourag- 
ing 1 prospects of its durability. 

November 28. Go to General Cavaignac's reception ; 
an immense crowd, consisting almost exclusively of 
military officers ; nothing comparable to it that I have 
before seen at any reception in Paris for numbers. It 
was caused by the General's speech in defence of his 
course in putting down the Insurrection. His friends 
and adherents came in multitudes to offer their con- 
gratulations. His adversaries brought charges against 
him of causing blood to flow unnecessarily at the 
barricades, by his acts and by his omissions. An 
angry debate followed in the sitting of the 25th, and 
the Assembly sustained his course by a triumphant 
vote. Hence the crowd this evening. His rooms were 
filled to overflowing, so that hundreds had to remain 
in the garden. In making my way into the rooms to 
reach General Cavaignac, I was aided by my kind 
friends the Lafayettes, father and son, who led me 
along circuitous paths in the garden. The debate in 
the Assembly and crowd this evening are the better 
explained by the near approach of the election for 
President, General Cavaignac being prominent as a 
candidate. 

November 30. At length I am to record the mani- 
festo of Prince Louis Napoleon. It is out in full. On 
the eve, he says, of an election for the first Magistrate 
of the Republic, his name had presented itself as a 
symbol of order and security. He knew that this 
testimony of confidence was more to the name he bore 
than to himself, who had yet done nothing for his 
country. He was not ambitious of subversive theories : 
reared in free countries, and in the school of misfor- 

2 N 



546 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

tune, he would be faithful to the duties which the 
suffrages of his fellow-citizens and the will of the 
Assembly might impose on him. If elected President, 
he would shrink from no dang'er or sacrifice to defend 
society, so audaciously attacked. He would devote 
himself to the strengthening- of a Republic, prudent in 
its laws, honest in its intentions, and great in its acts. 
He should consider it a point of honour to leave to his 
successor, at the end of four years, the government 
strengthened, liberty intact, and a real progress accom- 
plished. He would strive to reconcile parties and calm 
hatreds. Real reforms would be best effected by 
economy, without disorganizing the public sendees; 
by a diminution of the most burdensome taxes; by 
encouraging enterprises which would develop the riches 
of agriculture, and g'ive work to unemployed hands ; 
by imparting to the laws relating to industry, the 
meliorations which tend to benefit the poor without 
injuring the rich ; by restricting the number of places 
which depend on the Government, which often make a 
free people a nation of place-hunters ; and by avoiding 
the fatal tendency which leads the state to do what 
private individuals could do as well or better \ and by 
preserving the press from its two excesses, arbitrariness 
and license. These are points in his manifesto which 
touch upon home concerns. 

War, he says, would be no relief to the evils of 
France. Peace would therefore be his dearest of desires. 
France in her first Revolution was warlike, because 
she was forced to be so. To invasion she replied by 
conquest. Not being attacked now, she could devote - 
her resources to pacific improvements. A great nation 
should be silent, or never speak in vain. To think of 
national dignity, was to think of the army, whose 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 547 

patriotism, so noble and disinterested, had often been 
disregarded. Whilst the laws which gave force to 
military organisation should be maintained, the burden 
of conscription should be lightened. The present and 
the future not only of the officers, but sub-officers and 
soldiers, ought to be watched over, and an assured 
existence prepared for the men who have long served 
under the flag. In fine, when at the head of the French 
people, an infallible means of doing- good, was to 
resolve to do it. 

This is the substance of what he says. Whatever 
the result of the election, he promises to bow to the 
will of the people, and unite in all ends for promoting* 
the material and moral benefit of the country. The 
manifesto is addressed to his fellow-citizens, is in all 
the papers, and signed Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. 

December 21. The election for the first President of 
the Republic opened on Sunday, the 10th of this month, 
the da}- fixed by the Assembly, and closed throughout 
all France on the day following. Seven millions, three 
hundred and twenty-four thousand, six hundred and 
eighty-two votes were given, and were distributed as fol- 
lows: — For Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 5,434,426. 
For General Cavaignac, 1,448,107. For M. Ledru 
Eollin, 370,119. For M. Raspail, 36,920. For M. 
Lamartine, 17,910. For General Changarnier, 4,790. 
Lost votes 12,640. 

The result was known some days ago; but not the 
accurate returns. The official announcement of the 
result in the National Assembly yesterday, caused a 
very full attendance of the members, and all others 
who could gain admittance within the Chamber. 

The committee appointed to examine the returns 1 
entered the Chamber, attended by a number of the 

2 n 2 



548 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

Representatives, among" whom was General Cavaignac. 
— Louis Napoleon Bonaparte entered, and took bis seat 
next to Odillon Barrot on one of the benches. 

Waldeck-Rousseau, reporter of the committee, then 
ascended the tribune and read the report, deep silence 
prevailing*. It stated that the nation had deposited in 
the electoral urn the testimony of its confidence ; it 
had pointed out the citizen to whom it wished to con- 
fide the destinies of the French Eepublic ; Europe had 
been an attentive observer of the movement of a nation 
rising* in the calmness of its strength; and showing* 
itself worthy of the liberty it enjoyed; it had pointed 
out the object of its choice, not as the will of a few, but 
in a great and patriotic designation as standing for the 
will of the whole. 

He then read out the votes as stated above, and 
declared the citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte to be 
chosen President of the French people 5 the Executive 
power was to go into his hands ; the Representatives 
of the people would come, it was hoped, with patriotic 
eagerness, to offer to his Government the strength they 
could impart to it ; and may God protect France. 

These were the words with which the reporter con- 
cluded, I do not insert the report in full, but the 
extracts given mark its character. 

General Cavaignac rose, and stated that he had just 
received the collective resignation of the late Ministers; 
and that he had also to remit into the hands of the 
Assembly the office of President of the Council which 
had been intrusted to him. The Assembly would better 
comprehend, than he could express, all the gratitude 
he felt for the great kindness shown to him while he 
exercised the Executive power. He sat down amidst 
loud cheering- from the Chamber. 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 549 

The President of the Assembly, M. Marrast, then 
put the report of the committee to the vote. The whole 
Assembly (with the exception of five members) stood 
up in its favour. 

The President hereupon addressed the Assembly 
thus : — Whereas, the citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte 
has fulfilled the conditions of Article 4 of the Constitu- 
tion, as well as those prescribed by Articles 47 and 48; 
and whereas, in the ballot which has taken place, he 
has obtained the absolute majority of votes, the 
National Assembly does hereby proclaim him President 
of the French Republic from the present time to the 
second Sunday in May, 1852: I therefore call on the 
citizen Louis Napoleon Bonaparte to ascend the tribune, 
and take the required oath. 

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte accordingly came for- 
ward, ascended the tribune, and took the oath in the 
words following-: — "Before God, and in the 

PRESENCE OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE, REPRESENTED 

by the National Assembly, I swear to remain 
faithful to the eepubllc, democratic, one and 
indivisible; and to fulfil all the duties which 
the Constitution imposes on me." 

The President of the Assembly then said : — The 
Assembly, formally acknowledging* that the President 
of the Eepublic has taken the oath required, orders 
that solemn mention of the fact shall be made in the 
proces-verbal of the sitting*, and that notice of the same 
shall be posted up in all the communes of the Republic. 

Cries of Vive la Republique arose. 

The President of the Republic then delivered an ad- 
dress, in these words : — a Citizen Representatives: 
The suffrages of the nation, and the oath I have just 
taken, trace out for me my future conduct. I shall 



550 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

follow it as a man of honour. I wish, like }'ou, to 
place society on its true basis ; to strengthen demo- 
cratic institutions, and to alleviate the miseries of that 
generous and intelligent people which has just given 
me such a striking* proof of its confidence. Animated 
by a sincere spirit of conciliation, I have called round 
me capable and patriotic men, who, in spite of the 
diversit}^ of their political origin, are ready to devote 
themselves with me to the happiness of the nation. A 
Government coming- into power owes a debt of thanks 
to its predecessors when the deposit of its authority is 
handed over to it intact ) and in particular I owe it to 
the honourable General Cavaignac to say that his con- 
duct is worthy of the generosity of his character. It 
will not be the smallest title of his glory. The Go- 
vernment and myself are animated with a sincere love 
of the country. Let me hope, citizen Representatives, 
that your co-operation will be given to me, and that 
with it we may found a Government just and firm, 
which, without being either reactionary or Utopian, 
will secure the future welfare of the Republic • and, if 
we cannot do great things, we ma} r at least, by our 
loyal intentions and conduct, secure the welfare and 
happiness of the people by whom we have been chosen." 

This address closed the ceremon}^ and was received 
with loud cheers. 

The President of the Republic then left the tribune, 
and, in going down the centre of the Chamber, went 
to the seat of General Cavaignac and shook him warmly 
by the hand. This act was greeted by the Assembly 
in the heartiest manner, by the clapping of hands. 

The sitting- was then suspended for a short time. 

The President of the Assembly, on resuming the 
chair, stated that, by a communication just made to 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 551 

iim by the President of the Republic, M. Odillon 
Barrot had been charged to compose a new Ministry, 
and that as soon as it was formed, the fact would be 
communicated to the Assembly by a message. 

The President of the Republic then left the Assembly, 
accompanied by Odillon Barrot and other Representa- 
tives; after which the Chamber rose, many of the 
members hastening- out before the adjournment was 
announced from the chair. 

December 29. The ministry of the President is 
composed of the following- names : Odillon Barrot, 
Minister of Justice, and President of the Council, in 
the absence of the President of the Republic ; Drouyn 
de THuys, Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Leon 
Faucher, Minister of the Interior \ General Rulhieres, 
Minister of War ; M. de Tracy, Minister of Marine 
and Colonies \ M. Falloux, Minister of Public Instruc- 
tion and Worship; M. Lacrosse, Minister of Public 
Works ; M. Buffet, Minister of Agriculture and Com- 
merce ; M. Hippolyte Passy, Minister of Finance. 
Some resignations followed the first selections ; but 
these are the present members of the Ministry. 

It is believed that Drouyn de THuys, M. de Tracy, 
and M. de Falloux, voted for General Cavaignac. 
Their call to the new Cabinet is regarded as a generous 
and graceful act. 

All the Ministers are persons known. I will say 
of the one to be the organ of intercourse with other 
nations, that my previous knowledge of hini, as far 
as it has extended, has given me the most favourable 
impressions of his highly eminent qualities and ac- 
complishments. 

The election of Louis Napoleon has not, perhaps, 
been as unexpected to observers on the spot, as to those 



552 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

beyond the limits of France. When an amendment 
was proposed pending* the discussion of the Constitu- 
tion, for changing the part which provided for thef 
election of President by the direct vote of the people, 
so as to give the National Assembly the power ol 
electing* him, and that amendment was rejected, it was 
considered the forerunner of the result now witnessed ; 
though so overwhelming" a vote for the successful 
candidate was hardly anticipated by anybody. All 
perceive that it clothes him with great power to do 
good. General Cavaignac lost ground with the 
Socialists and Eed Kepublicans, by the part he acted 
in the Insurrection and during the siege ; for, although 
their numbers were not great throughout France, 
their activity was great, and many of them had 
very sharp intellects, and worked with unbounded 
zeal towards their objects. Moreover, the belief which 
more especially began to prevail after the vote on the 
above amendment, which was strong for rejecting it, 
that Louis Napoleon would be chosen, added daily to 
his strength; of which, doubtless, his name was at 
the root. 
1849. 

January 1. The President of the Eepublic has 
taken as his residence the Palais Elysee Bourbon. 

By an official communication to the Foreign Ambas- 
sadors and Ministers, they were informed that he would 
receive them this morning. As the new Chief Magis- 
trate of France under a constitution to commence its 
operation under its executive auspices, the entire 
Diplomatic Corps would naturally desire to offer their 
compliments and congratulations on the proof he had 
received of his country's confidence \ and it may be 
supposed it would be desirable on his part to have an 



FEENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 553 

early opportunity of making- their acquaintance. 
Accordingly, the corps went, and were severally pre- 
sented to him in due form. Most of them were 
personally unknown to him. This was my case. Our 
presentations were made by his Minister of Foreign 
Affairs. He spoke a few words to me, as to all, the 
occasion not leading" to much conversation with any. 
I had seen him before ; but only in the Assembly from 
the Diplomatic box, and imperfectly. In stature below 
rather than above the medium height, yet robust ; a 
subdued carriage ; a thoughtful countenance ; a blue 
eye, in repose rather than vivid, and darker in com- 
plexion than the French generally : this was his 
appearance to me to-day. 

The Palais Elysee Bourbon was a favourite residence 
of the Emperor Napoleon. He went there as soon as 
he reached Paris, after his final defeat at Waterloo, 
himself the first to bring the news of it. Some 
accounts say that such was his fatigue from his rapid 
flight that he could not at first articulate, but threw 
himself on a bed in a state near to exhaustion ; yet 
speaking somewhat incoherently of the necessity of a 
dictatorship in his favour. 

And who were in that Palace now ? In looking 
round, strange reminiscences obtruded themselves. 
You saw the representatives of Austria, of Prussia, of 
Sardinia, of Bavaria, of Saxony, of Wirtemberg, and 
of Switzerland ; of Spain, the Italian States, and 
Portugal ; of Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium ; 
of German states and principalities, hardly to be 
counted up, whose kingdoms he had overrun ; whose 
territories he had invaded and despoiled ; the blood of 
whose subjects had been made to moisten half Europe 
during his wars of self-aggrandizement, which grasped 



554 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

at all Europe ; his cannon seating' his own family some 
against their will and remonstrances, on the thrones he 
overturned. All these kingdoms and states and prin- 
cipalities — I can hardly have named too many, when 
even the little free Hanse town did not escape — were 
forced to yield to him ; were doomed to see their 
people mustered at the roll of his drum, to help him 
fight his battles against their interests and their duties. 
Some were humiliated past description ; all sorely 
aggrieved, under pretexts which ambition, with armies 
at its back, is never at a loss in alleging, and knows 
how to smooth over and gild. Now, I saw the repre- 
sentatives of them all coming together to offer their 
congratulations to the nephew of that deposed conqueror; 
the nephew himself an exile less than a year ago, and 
previously a prisoner twice condemned, and apparently 
left without hope. What a sight ! Not often has the 
wheel of Fortune turned so marvellously. I did not 
chance to see the Minister of Russia in this repre- 
sentation of crowned heads and other sovereignties of 
Europe assembled in honour of the nephew. Perhaps 
he was away for reasons I was not acquainted with ; 
or my eye may have missed him, so many w r ere there. 
The Ambassador of England could not be missed. 
His presence was too memorable in the history it 
recalls, ever to be forgotten. He was the sole person 
in the group, as far as Europe w r as concerned, whose 
nation never bent the knee to Napoleon ; the only one 
who from the beginning looked him steadfastly in the 
face undisma}^ed, and saw through him under his mask ; 
whose Parliament, whose unfettered press, spoke the 
truth out to nations trumpet-tongued, more resounding 
than his war bugles on their frontiers, or in their 
capitals ; who shattered his marine to pieces, whenever 






FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 555 

t ventured out of port, by her naval thunders 3 drove 
:im from the seas maddened and helpless, except in his 
herished, yet ever fruitless vengeance, against the 
?ower that thwarted his plans of dominion, and held 
heap his threats of invasion, in the face of his boastful 
^olumn at Boulogne, — a Power that at one time 
buo-ht ao-ainst him sino-le-handed, Russia in turn 
laving- given way, and fought with only the more 
rigour ; who fought him to the last, and by her invin- 
cible resolution and perseverance, encouraged and aided 
jthers in going on with the fight, until, at length, 
Europe was roused to indignation under his stupendous 
wrongs ; and down he came, amidst peans of universal 
joy, from the height gained by his remorseless sword 
— France, who had been mingling groans with his 
glory, joining largely in her shouts of gratitude at the 
general deliverance. 

There was one other person in that group whose 
country never was in fear of him, but protested against 
his outrages from first to last, — the Minister of the 
United States. He could readily contribute his con- 
gratulations where the object of them, reared, as he 
said, in the school of misfortune, had risen on the free 
and immense vote of the tenth of December ; and who 
declared that peace was the dearest of his desires, and 
that he felt bound in honour to deliver over the govern- 
ment to his successor at the end of four years with the 
public liberty intact. 

January 15. Go to the night reception of the 
Prince President at the Palace Elysee Bourbon. The 
Ministers of State were there, the Diplomatic Corps^ 
and many others connected with the new Government. 

Go afterwards to a ball given by the Prefect of the 
Seine, at the Hotel de Ville. Large as that building 



556 FEENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



:. 



is, the company filled it. To see its spacious room 
given up to music and dancings and the whole buildin*. 
blazing" with light and joyous with festivity, was truh 
a beneficent change from its having been so long % 
great centre of revolutionary alarms and fights. 

January 23. Dine at the hotel of the Minister o 
Foreign Affairs, M. Drouyn de THuys. It was a ver\ 
large dinner, the first under the new regime. We hac 
a great assemblage of the highest official persons : the 
Prince President heading the list j the Cabinet Minis- 
ters, the Diplomatic Corps, the President of the National 
Assembly, and others of distinguished name, though 
now holding no station, amongst whom were M. dt 
Lamartine and Count Mole. The chair assigned tc ! 
me was next to the President of the Assembly ; and^ 
next to him sat the President of the Eepublic. 

January 24. This evening the Diplomatic Corps 
dine at my house, with their ladies, and our friends. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ridgway. 

Our corps belongs essentially to the existing govern- 
ment ; and it must be confessed that we have had our 
embarrassments on this head in Paris. We had favour-' 
able allusions at table now and then to the new Prince 
President, as derived from the personal intercourse we 
have so far had with him. The corps, for the most 
part, were for General Cavaignac during the canvass, 
more or less openly. I took no part, continuing to 
think that we, as a body or individually, have nothing 
to do with party contests here, though we may write 
as we think fit to our own Governments about French 
affairs. 

January 28. Go this evening to the reception of 
Odillon Barrot, Minister of Justice and head of the 
Ministry. The President of the Eepublic was there, 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 557 

i ;;! e members of his Cabinet, the Diplomatic Corps, and 
..very large company of ladies and gentlemen. 
dw The Minister of Foreign Affairs seeks conversation 
rlilth me as to what we do in cases where our President 
lid Congress disagree. I tell him that when Congress 
oioes not act on recommendations of the President, 
■rv/ther by remaining passive under them, or debating 
aniem without result, nothing comes of the recom- 
mendation. It falls to the ground for the time 
is-ieing ; but may be, and often is, renewed at another 
I ^ssion. 

\ j On the other hand, if both Houses of Congress pass a 
jlH, either with or without a recommendation from the 
president, the bill not becoming a law until the 
Jf resident concurs in it, he may, if disproving it, return 
[ to the house in which it originated, with his objec- 
Jions. If that house passes the bill by a vote of two- 
thirds of its members, and the other house does the 
H ia me, it becomes a law, notwithstanding the objections 
If the President. I add, that it rarely occurs in our 
practice that the President's veto is overcome by the 
.requisite majority in both cases. 

jj The Minister asks if I would object to furnishing 

!jhim with a written memorandum of this part of our 

system and its operation. He thinks the President 

of the Eepublic would like to see it. I tell him 

I will readily do so. 

January 29. Enclose the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

informally, a copy of the seventh section of the first 

article of our Constitution, which relates to the veto of 

the President, adding the views I had expressed to 

j him of its practical operation with us. 

February 4. I give a smaller diplomatic dinner to- 
day, that I may have Mr. Bancroft's company, now 



558 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 






here for a few days from London. Lord Howden in 
one of my guests, an accomplished English diplomatisi 
at present in Paris, who gives me the first inform atior 
of Sir Henry Bulwer's appointment as British Minister 
to the United States. I mention the fact to my 
Government, in case it may not yet have been knowi: 
at Washington. We go this evening to the reception 
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I present Mr, 
and Mrs. Bidgvvay to the Minister, and to Madame 
Drouyn de l'Huys, and have conversation with the 
Spanish Ambassador on the appointment of Sir Henry 
Bulwer as Minister to the United States. 

February 12. Dine with General Sir Phineas Biall. 
of the British arnry, at present residing here with 
Lad} T Biall, in Bue St. Florentine. 

During' the war of 1812 with England, General Biaf 
was taken prisoner by our troops in one of the battles on 
the Canadian lines, and remained in the United States 
on parole until duly exchanged. This dinner was given 
to me in remembrance of the attentions and good 
treatment he received from my countiymen while 
among them on his parole. There were sixteen or 
eighteen at table, gentlemen and ladies, all English — 
some of the arm}^. Certainly no merit could be 
claimed in treating well a gallant officer who had 
fallen into our hands. But it was part of a generous 
mind to remember it. I learned, not from himself, but 
others, that my predecessors in the mission to France 
had in like manner been recipients of his hospitality. 

I close the note of my second English dinner in 
Paris, with the remark, that remembering, what passed 
at the English Embassy, about taking wine with the 
company, I ventured to act upon it at this agreeable 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 559 

dinner at the hospitable table of the distinguished and 

I gallant general. 

February 16. We are at a grand ball to-night at 

; the Palais Elysee. Mr. and Mrs. Ridgway are of our 
party, and Lady Augusta Bruce. Eminent persons 
were there — some of the Eonapartes ; the Ministers 
of State ; the Diplomatic Corps, and distinguished 
foreigners. The Prince President opens the ball by 
dancing with his relative, the Princess Mathilde 
Demiedoff. It w^as not easy to arrive or get away, 
owing to the crowd of carriages in the court-yard. The 
President's servants wore the green and gold livery of 
the Emperor. The President told me, in the course of 
the evening, that the copy I had furnished of the part 
of our Constitution relating to the Executive veto, was 
very acceptable. 

February 27. The anniversary of the proclamation 
of the Republic was celebrated on the 24th of this 
month. The religious part of the ceremony was in the 
church of the Madeleine. 

The President of the Republic and the President of 
the National Assembly each moved off for the church, 
the former from the Palais Elysee, the latter from the 
Legislative Chamber, at a signal gun \ so that each 
might arrive at the church and go in at the same time. 
I heard that the President of the Assembly determined 
to pursue this course, lest the President of the Republic 
should have intended to enter first, thinking it his duty 
to stand up for the dignity of the Assembly. 

There has been a conflict of authority between the 
Executive and the Chamber, from which the latter 
came out disadvantagedusly. This may the more have 
determined the President of the Chamber not to yield 
precedence in going into the church. The conflict was 



560 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

this. The President of the Republic and his Ministers 
urged upon the Chamber several measures of policy 
which they desired to see adopted. The Chamber 
refused to adopt them, leaving- the Ministers in a 
minority on more than one occasion. One of the 
measures urg-ed was no less important than that of 
dissolving* the Assembly ; the Ministers alleging- that 
its great function was fulfilled in the formation of the 
Constitution, and that it was proper to have a new 
Assembly chosen in the manner definitely settled by 
the Constitution. The Chamber voted otherwise, not 
choosing* to annihilate itself. The Ministers persisted. 
So did the Chamber. This brought on a constitutional 
conflict, the first which has arisen between the two 
authorities. The Chamber said the Ministers ought to 
resign under their defeats. The Ministers answered 
no. The President of the Republic represents the 
popular will as much as the Assembly, and embodies 
a more recent expression of it. The Ministers kept 
their places, the President refusing to dismiss them. 
The Assembly have since shown a more acquiescing 
spirit ; and so things stand. 

I wrote an account of this conflict to my Govern- 
ment on the 20th of this month, venturing to express 
the opinion that the Executive had the best of the 
argument ; but that we might read in this first clash 
the future dangers of France under an elective and 
representative government with but a single Legisla- 
tive Chamber. 

March 13. Mr. WikofF, of Philadelphia, called on 
me a few days ago, to request that I would present 
him to the Prince President. * What need of this, I 
ask? you have known the President longer than I 
have. I had read the account of the visit he paid the 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 501 

latter at Ham when he was a State prisoner, and 
remembered the predictions it contained. He replied, 
that, having* recently come to Paris, he would prefer, 
as a stranger and an American, to be reintroduced by 
the Minister of his country. I replied, that, although 
I had not been the first to suggest this, I thought he 
judged rightly. Accordingly, at the reception at the 
Palais Elysee, this evening, I presented him. In 
doing it, I had to watch the proper moment. The 
rooms were full. Others were being* presented by the 
Foreign Ministers \ and much of that ceremony was 
otherwise going on. I advanced nearer and nearer to 
where the Prince President stood, Mr. Wikoff keeping- 
close to me. At length his turn came, and I was on 
the eve of doing my part, when the President, seeing 
who was with me, and directing* his eye towards him, 
exclaimed, before 1 spoke, and in a tone of cordial 
recognition, Mr. WikofF ! It thus became unnecessary 
for me to mention his name first. He then took the 
latter by the hand and greeted him warmly. Mr. 
WikofF bore himself becomingly under a recognition so 
complimentary, the incident having drawn attention 
from all near enough to witness it. 

March 26. We go to an invited party at the 
Prince President's. It is not large, and a concert. 
The most celebrated performers and singers in Paris 
make up the music. So says to me a member of the 
Diplomatic Corps present. 

The same gentleman, who has been long here 
and can discriminate people, whispers to me that 
among the ladies of the company he does not perceive 
a single one belonging to a Republican family. All 
were of the old regime ; Legitimists, Orleanists, or 
Bonapartes. Thiers and Count Mole were there. 



562 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

They might be seen in a room by themselves, talking- 
together. 

April 12. At a reception at the Palace Elysee this 
evening-, I presented to the Prince President Mr. and 
Mrs. William R. Palmer, of Philadelphia. Also Mr. 
and Mrs. F. B. Stockton, of Washington. Mr. 
Stockton being* of the U. S. Navy. 

After presenting Mrs. Palmer, she shows me a 
miniature likeness of General Taylor, the newly elected | 
President of the United States, executed on satin. I 
say to her that, with her permission, I will give it to 
the Prince President, as the likeness of a brave soldier. 
She consents ; and I tell her that in offering it to his 
acceptance, I shall represent myself as her ambassador, 
commissioned by herself. I fulfil the honourable 
commission I am charged with. The Prince Pre- I 
sident receives the miniature, and most courteously J 
requests me to thank the fair donor of whom he speaks 
very flatteringly. 

April 25. I dined yesterday with my daughters, at 1 
the Palais Elysee Bourbon. The dinner was not a 1 
large one. The Diplomatic Corps were not there. ;| 
Some of the President's friends and portions of his i 
household formed the company. Colonel Edgar Ney, 1 
the name on which Marshal Ney has shed such high J 
.military renown ; General Fabvier, and that devoted 1 
friend of the President throughout his adversity at j 
Ham and elsewhere, Doctor Conneau,— these were I 
present; with some of his own family, and others I 
belonging to his establishment. 

In receiving his guests, the Prince President gave I 
his hand to all. The topics were familiar. He was! 
courteously attentive to his company, and all the 
appearances of the dinner were in unison with the! 



:; 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 563 

alatial establishment. The servants, as they moved 

bout the table in the old green livery, seemed to call 

p the shade of Napoleon, whose sword won the palace 

ve were in; whose saloons, brilliant at one period 

under the glare cast upon everything' by his conquests, 

beheld also the hand- writing* on their walls. 

June 8. We are at the Swedish Minister's to-night, 

! invited with the Diplomatic Corps and others, to hear 

Uenny Lind sing*. We understood she had declined 

singing' on the stag*e in Paris, or elsewhere, publicly; 

j but the Minister of her country, and his amiable consort, 

the Countess de Lowenhielm. induced her to come to 

their domicil and sing for the gratification of them- 

; selves and their friends invited to hear her. It was a 

| treat to listen to this highly-gifted songstress under 

such circumstances. 

June 16. An Insurrection has been attempted this 
week. The immediate cause of it was an alleged vio- 
lation of the Constitution, in sending a French Army 
to Borne to put down the cause of Italian liberty. 
Hatred of democracy, say the Mountain party, which 
the Government scarcely conceals on the banks of the 
Seine, breaks out openly on the banks of the Tiber. 
The Government reply that the portion of the French 
Army at Borne under General Oudinot was sent there 
to protect Italian liberty against its enemies the ultras. 
Here is presented a disputed point. General Cavaignac, 
an avowed and uniform Republican, but reflecting 
and prudent withal, had himself sent troops to Borne, 
when Executive head of the Government, with the 
same object. The Mountain party raised an issue on 
this point, and preferred charges of impeachment in 
the Assembly against the Ministers, quoting the 
articles of the Constitution asserted to have been vio- 



564 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

lated. The Ministers were sustained by a large vote, 
their majority being- 350. The vote of the Mountain 
party was 195. Encouraged rather than daunted, the 
party asserted more strenuously that the Constitution 
was broken, and, by various signs and manifestoes, 
announced their intention of appealing to a battle in 
the streets against the Government. They raised 
imperfect barricades, and took steps for constructing 
more. They also met at the Conservatoire des Arts 
et Metiers, to deliberate on further measures of re- 
sistance. 

The President and his Ministers were awake to their 
proceedings. Immediately Paris was put in a state of 
siege— and, as it so turned out, by about the same 
majority in the Assembly which had rejected the 
charges of impeachment against the Ministers. The 
military power of the Government was drawn upon, 
and so energetically used by General Changarnier, 
now commander of the troops and National Guards of 
Paris, that the barricades were destroyed, the meeting 
at the " Conservatoire" broken up, and a " demonstra- 
tion" of twenty thousand people, collected and moving 
in column in the region of the Church of the Made- 
leine, effectually dispersed by a few battalions of the 
troops and cavalry, without a battle, and with little 
or no bloodshed. Entire quiet was restored in a few 
hours. 

Ity this prompt success, and his own proclama- 
tion to the people on the occasion, the Prince Pre- 
sident appears to have gained with the conservative 
Republicans , in and out of the Assembly. General 
Cavaignac voted with them, and spoke briefly and 
well. So did Thiers; and the National Guard also 
went with the Government. The feeling appears to 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 565 

be general in society that, whatever the merits of the 
question on this Italian policy pursued by the Go- 
vernment, a resort to force by the defeated party in 
the Chamber was, under all circumstances, wholly 
unjustifiable. 

September 7. Eeturned last night, with my daugh- 

( ters, from a visit of three days to our friends the 
Lafayettes, at La Grange, department of Seine-and- 

I Marne. 

While away, we were at Fontainbleau. We visited 
its Palace, saw all its curiosities, and the gardens. We 
also walked through parts of the forest close by, so 
well known to Eoyalty in French history. In seeking* 
out some of the majestic old oaks and other curiosities 
of the forest, we might have been lost among its inter- 
secting* roads and paths, but for a peasant guide we 
had, who also piloted us to a limpid rivulet among 
rocks, where we were refreshed with cool water from a 
shaded spring. 

Nothing* could exceed the friendliness of our wel- 
come at La Grange. The very name of that place is 
dear to Americans. We associate it with Mount 
Vernon, the home of Washington; to whom Ge- 
neral Lafayette seemed as a son; his youthful and 
chivalrous sword having first been drawn in our 
Revolutionary War under the auspices of our great 
chief. The present head of the family is Mr. 
George Lafayette, only son of the General, whose 
name has been more than once mentioned in these 
notes, and always in the affectionate spirit I ever 
desire to cherish towards himself and that family. 
His consort, the venerated Madame Lafayette, still 
lives as the mistress at La Grange. The sons and 
daughters and daughter-in-law under the roof, while 



#66 FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 

we were there, give to the guests of that revered home 
the heau ideal of ancient gentry in retirement, dis- 
pensing hospitality in ways as cordial as refined. The 
building- is of the fifteenth century, castellated in ap- 
pearance, standing* amidst the shade of old trees, and 
with ivy on its walls. Their carriage was in waiting 
for us at the last station ; and when we arrived at the 
house, in the evening* of a fine autumnal day, the head 
of the family, and other members of it, were already 
at the portal, and received us, as we alighted, with a 
kindly warmth and grace we can never forget. The 
attentions we had during* our whole stay were in har- 
mony with our first reception ; and we took our leave 
of their hospitable mansion and family circle never to 
think of our visit but with pleasurable and grateful 
recollections. 
1849. 

October 8. My mission having* come to a close, 
and now desiring to embark on my return voyag*e by 
way of England before winter sets in, I wait on M. de 
Tocqueville, the present Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
to tell him so. He had previously furnished me with 
friendly passports, and attended to every thing* else to 
be done for a returning* Minister, on learning* from me 
that my successor had arrived. He had also, at my 
request, arranged it with the President of the Republic, 
that my audience of leave should take place to-day at 
three o'clock, at the Palais Elysee. I went there in 
my carriag*e at that hour. 

In delivering* my letter of recall, I said, in the 
words of the Secretary of State, that the President 
desired to see the relations between the United States 
and France placed on the footing* best calculated to 
strengthen and perpetuate the most amicable inter- 



FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1848. 567 

course between the two countries. The President of 
the Eepublic reciprocated these sentiments very cor- 
dially; which terminated the official part of the 
ceremony. 

The Secretary's last despatch to me stated that the 
President (General Taylor) had directed him to say 
that he was not uninformed of my services as Minister 
to France. 

As I finally took my leave of the Prince President, 
he used obliging* expressions in reference to my ap- 
proaching departure, as M. de Tocqueville had pre- 
viously done. He requested I would present his 
compliments to m} 7- daughters, with his regrets that 
our early departure would prevent his seeing us as 
often as he would otherwise have done. 



FROM A SKETCH 



OF THE 



CHARACTER OF MR. CANNING. 



BY THE AUTHOR. 



2 p 



[The name of Me. Canning having occurred frequently 
in the foregoing pages,, it has been determined to insert , 1 
here, rather than among the notes in the body of the Volume, 
something further in reference to that celebrated man, of 
whom the Author had a very high opinion. On the day that 
the intelligence of Mr. Canning's death, in 1827, reached 
Washington, the Author, then a member of the Cabinet of 
President Adams, was requested by the Editors of the Govern- 
ment Paper, at that time the " National Intelligencer," to I 
draw up a notice of the event, for which it was supposed he 
might have had good opportunities. He immediately did 
so, and the article appeared the next day, editorially, in the 
columns of that Journal. It was afterwards republished in 
pamphlet form, entitled " Sketch of the Character of Mr. 
Canning/ 5 and extensively circulated. 

Among the Author's " Occasional Productions," referred 
to in the Addendum to the Preface to this Volume, this 
" Sketch" was included, and it has been thought that Eng- 
lish readers, to whom it will be new, might now take an , 
interest in it, Mr. Canning's name and fame occupying . 
so large a space in English history. Accordingly the con- 
cluding portion of the Sketch will be found annexed.] 



CHARACTER OF MR. CANNING. 



With all our admiration of the mental powers of 
Mr. Canning*, whether as inherited from nature, or 
carried to their highest pitch by culture and discipline ; 
whether we marked their efforts when brought to the 
most momentous trials, or only gazed at them when 
they dazzled in lighter ones, truth compels us to state, 
that he was never the political friend of this country. 
He was a Briton, through and through )— British in 
his feelings, British in his aims, British in all his 
policy and projects. It made no difference whether 
the lever that was to raise them was fixed at home or 
abroad; for he was always and equally British. The 
influence, the grandeur, the dominion of Britain, were 
the dream of his boyhood. To establish these all over 
the globe, even in the remote region where the waters 
of the Columbia flow in solitude, formed the intense 
effort of his riper years. For this he valued power ; 
for this he used it. Greece he may almost be said to 
have left to her melancholy fortunes, though so much 
alive to all the touching recollections and beauties of 
that devoted land, because the question of her escape 
from a thraldom, so long, so bitter, so unchristian, was 
a Turkish and European, not a British, question. If 
involuntarily hurried, for a moment, into the highest 
strains of even poetry and enthusiasm, at the thoughts 
of those classic shrines at which he had so often wor- 
shipped, the dictates of the British statesman called 
him back from his intellectual and moral transports, 

'ill 



572 CHARACTER OF MR. CANNING. 

making him careful in his steps. For Britain's sake, 
exclusively, he took the determination to counteract 
France, and the Continent, in Spanish America. So, 
for Britain's sake, he invariably watched, and was as 
invariably for counteracting*, the United States. 



But we will stop. Mr. Canning's name belongs to 
history, and we are presuming* to touch it whilst the 
shock of his death still rings in our ears. To departed 
genius reverence is due. Britain has entombed him 
side by side with her most illustrious sons, and will 
raise monuments to his exertions to extend her power 
and elevate her renown. Those who knew this highly 
gifted man more nearly, testify, that his intercourse 
in the relations of private and social life was as attrac- 
tive, as his public career was brilliant and commanding*. 
He was, indeed, the g*race and ornament of a society 
refined by age, by education, and by wealth ; ascendant 
in the highest literary circles, and adding dignity to 
those of rank. He was amiable in his family, devoted 
to his friends, magnanimous among his foes. That his 
career has been as brief as brilliant, does but tell us 
how fleeting* are human hopes ! He had ascended to 
the pinnacle of all his earthly ambition — only to die. 



EXTRACT 



FROM THE 



PROOEEDINOS 



OP THE 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, 



8th of August, 1859. 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



" At a stated meeting* of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, held on Monday evening 1 , the 8th of 
August, 1859, Judge Cadwalader occupied the chair. 
It being announced that, since the last meeting* of 
the Society, one of its oldest and most honoured 
members, Eichard Bush, had died, the Librarian 
stated that he had received from Mr. Henry D. 
Gilpin, one of the Vice-Presidents, (late Attorne}^- 
General of the United States), whose ill health pre- 
vented his attendance, a paper expressing his deep 
emotion occasioned by the occurrence just announced, 
and containing some remarks which he would have 
desired to make if present. 

a In the language of Mr. Gilpin, in this paper : — 

" Never since he had been connected with the Society, 
had it fallen to his lot to mourn with more sincere distress 
the loss of a fellow-member. Yet the event should not be 
regarded as a cause of sorrow ; he had but passed the inevit- 
able portal, to which we are all tending, after a long life of 
unsullied probity, great public usefulness, the cultivation 
and enjoyment of refined literary tastes, and a deportment 
sincere, generous and urbane in every social relation. Still, 
we feel that a link has been struck from the chain of grateful 
association. 

<c For myself, I do not approach the subject without feel- 
ings which are independent of his merit, in the light of 
which the world and history will judge him. For me a long 
vista is closed of generous friendship ; of stores of know- 
ledge poured out ; of manly truths, mildly but resolutely 
communicated : of a social nature ever genial, and a hospi- 
tality simple, but ever generous. By those who enjoyed the 



576 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 

twenty years of his intercourse at Sydenham, can its charms 
ever be forgotten ? Can they fail to recall the feast of reason 
and the flow of soul, by which a refined nature doubles every 
charm of friendship ? I recall the ancestral home, shaded 
by its ancient trees, and remember how books and works of 
art adorned them, and especially the memorial gifts of 
friends, which added peculiar objects of association. 

i( The step and bannister brought from Milton's house and 
inserted in his own staircase; volumes with some kindly 
notice from Eogers or Campbell, or Hallam or Lyttleton ; 
the pictures of statesmen and men of letters, both in Eng- 
land and in France, with tokens of their regard ; all these 
seemed justly to augment his natural desire to linger to the 
last in the homestead which he had inherited, until the pro- 
gress of the vast encroaching city took from it the last 
vestige of rural tranquillity. There must be many of those 
here assembled who can remember his venerable figure, as 
the summer evening closed, standing upon the last step of 
the portico, to wave them his courteous adieu — the words of 
his conversation lingering on the ear of his retiring guest, 
as the wise and mild lessons of the aged Nestor dwelt in the 
heart of the parting Telemachus. 

" The life of Eichard Rush must be nearly the history of 
his country for half a century, for perhaps no American 
citizen has ever been so constantly engaged in its public 
events. In early life he studied law in Philadelphia, where 
he commenced, and for a time pursued, its practice. For 
several months he was attorney-general of the State. His 
marriage, however, to a lady of Maryland, many of whose 
connexions resided in Washingon, and the eye of President 
Madison having been fixed upon him, as a young man whose 
talents and personal qualities would make him both accept- 
able and useful to his administration, in the troublesome 
times which were at hand, led to his removal to that city, at 
the instance of the President, in the year 1811. He was 
appointed Controller of the Treasury, an office which, as then 
organized, largely required the exercise of legal talents. 

" In 1814 he was called by Mr. Madison into his cabinet, 
succeeding Mr. Pinckney in the post of Attorney- General of 



OF THE AUTHOR, 577 

the United States, the President having offered him the 
choice of this office or that of Secretary of the Treasury. 
He continued to hold it until the close of Mr. Madison's 
administration. 

" The other office, that of Secretary of the Treasury, he 
subsequently filled during the administration of President 
Adams. In all the business of that office he proved himself to 
be an able administrator. His opinions upon the great finan- 
cial question of the day, leading to a policy of protective 
duties, and his judgment in favour of it, were advocated with 
much ability. The question is one scarcely yet withdrawn 
from the disputed topics of governmental policy, either in this 
country or in Europe. He urged his convictions with candour, 
and did not shrink from their avowal at any period, even 
when they became subjects of partisan and vehement dis- 
cussion. However correct or incorrect we may ourselves 
deem them to be, it is not to be denied that he found sup- 
porters of his views on this subject in some of the ablest 
American statesmen. 

" The most continuous portion, however, of Mr. Plush's 
public life was his representation of America as her Minister 
in England and France. The former post he held for eight 
years, the latter for two.* 

" It fell to his lot to take a leading part in some of the 
questions which subsequently proved to be of great national 
importance. In these measures he was aided by the great 
ability of the Secretary of State, Mr. Adams. Without 
attempting to trace, or even narrate, these measures, which 
is the work of history, it should not be forgotten that he 
pressed with incessant activity the rights of the United 
States upon the Northwest coast of America ; and that his 
minute historical researches, as well as able arguments, dis- 
closed most, if not all, the points of controversy upon which 
that angry question subsequently turned. 

* Mr. Push was appointed to the English Mission by President 
Monroe, in 1817, at the age of thiity-seven, having been for the 
previous six months his acting Secretary of State; to the French 
3Iission he was appointed by President Polk, in 1847. 

2 Q 



578 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 






" It is no longer a question of doubt that, after tlie close 
of the great wars of Europe, some of its most powerful 
sovereigns, who were united in the so-called Holy Alliance, 
entertained views of interference on the American continent, 
the character of which, never completely developed, would 
necessarily partake of the spirit and aims of that alliance. 
This disclosed itself to the sagacity of Mr. Canning while 
Mr. Rush was in London. His views were communicated 
to Mr. Rush, and their negotiations became the basis of that 
quiet, but decisive, expression of the American Government, 
without which the conduct of some of the European Go- 
vernments would, in all probability, have led to consequences 
disastrous in American history. 

" Without investigating the inferences, in regard to the 
policy of the United States, which, in subsequent political 
controversies, have been deduced from the language of 
President Monroe, and without expressing an opinion as to 
their applicability to subsequent events, which may or may 
not be similar — for this would be entering on the province 
of the historian — it must be admitted that the measure 
itself, adopted at the time and in the manner in which it 
was, has scarcely been surpassed in importance in the foreign 
policy of the United States. In its conduct, Mr. Rush dis- 
played throughout great ability, discretion, vigilance, and 
tact. These qualities, indeed, marked in a high degree his 
whole diplomatic career in England. 

" Though his services as Minister in France occupied a 
much shorter period, yet his residence in Paris embraced a 
portion of the reign of Louis Philippe, the whole of the 
Republic, and part of the government of Louis Napoleon as 
its President. Notwithstanding his personal relations with 
the former sovereign, he did not hesitate in his duty, as 
the representative of America, and, without awaiting the 
course of the representatives of other countries, to recog- 
nize, as far as it was in his power, the free government, 
established by the French people. Although such an emer- 
gency could not have been anticipated by his instructions, 
he rightly judged the feelings and sentiments of his govern- 



OF THE AUTHOR. 579 

ment and countrymen. His diplomatic conduct through the 
erratic course of events in France, which succeeded each 
other in quick succession, was marked, in each emergency, 
by the ability, promptness, resolution, and judgment, which 
characterized his first important movement ; and when he 
retired from his mission, and with it from active public 
service, he returned to the United States with increased 
distinction and untarnished honour. 

" One feature remains to be noticed. His literary ability 
was superior. He loved habitually the best English authors. 
He was careful in the formation of his style. His mind was 
richly stored, perhaps beyond any of his contemporaries, with 
the minute history of the men and times among whom he 
lived. His estimate of individual character was less obscured 
by prejudice, than is usual among politicians who lived 
through stormy times. If he could ever err in accuracy in 
regard to events, it was from no want of an anxious search 
for truth, which he possessed excellent opportunities to 
ascertain. In his opinions on public measures, it would be 
vain to say that all his judgments could be right ; but they 
were always conscientious." 

" After some appropriate remarks from the chair, it 
was unanimously resolved that the memoir of Mr. 
Gilpin, be entered on the records, with an expression of 
the Society's deep regret at the loss of their venerable 
and distinguished member." 



INDEX 



Abbot, Mr. Justice, 181. . . 

Aberdeen, Earl, Louis Philippe's opinion 

of, 406; Guizot's opinion of, 406. 
Academv, Roval, Anniversary Dinner 
at Somerset House, fiftieth celebra- 
tion. 206 ; author returns thanks 
to toast to Foreign Ambassadors and 
Ministers, 210. 
Adams, Mr., author's immediate prede- 
cessor, 26 ; Secretary of State, his 
character, 4S ; « The Elder," " The 
Younger," Charles Francis ; Family 
hitherto the most distinguished, poli- 
tically, in America, 86, note ; address 
of " The Younger" to Queen Char- 
lotte, and happy allusion, 102 ; sub- 
sequent Farewell Address, when 
President, to General Lafayette, 103, 
note; respect in which held, and 
foresight of, while Minister to Russia, 
121 ; tribute paid to him by Duke of 
Susses, 126 ; ability of in English 
mission. 368 ; " The Elder," 462. 
Adelaide, Madame, 399; Court mourn- 
ing for, 432. 
Adet. Mons., 453. 

Addison, 126 ; anecdote of, while re- 
siding at Holland House, 139. 
Affairs, Foreign, French Minister of, 
dines with, 413; enquiries by, in re- 
gard to conflict of opinion in U. S. 
between President and Congress, 557. 
Ages, intermingling of all, in English 

society, up to past eighty, 178. 
Agriculture in the United States, 284 ; 

in England, 311. 
Aix la Chapelle, chief purpose of Con- 
gress of, 320. . 
Alexander, Emperor, anecdote of, in 
connexion with visit of Allied Sove- 
reigns to England, 52 ; his letter to 
his tutor, La Harpe, soon after his 
accession to the throne, 216 ; fond of 
reading works on the United States, 
217 ; his decision as Umpire under 
fifth article of Treaty of 1818 between 
U.S. and Great Britain, 376. 
Allegiance, Natural, conflicting views of 
writers upon Public Law, with refer- 
ence to, 165 ; opposite views of Bri- 
tish and American Governments with 
reference to, 254. 
Alliance, European, information asked 



of Lord Castlereagh as to objects of, 
with reference to South American 
Affairs, 273 : Holv, supposed over- 
tures of Russia to United States to 
join ; objects of ; objections to free 
Governments becoming party _ to ; 
grounds of England's refusal to join, 
294. 
Almacks, 178. 
Ambassador, Turkish, to France, author 

dines with, 433. 
Ambassadors, distinction between, ana 

Ministers Plenipotentiary, 64. 
Amelia Island, 189. . . 

America, Spanish, Plenipotentiaries 

from three of the new States of, 67. 
Americanisms, 267. 
Amherst, Lord, 241 . 
Anecdote of Spanish Ambassador who 
represented to Cromwell that the In- 
; quisition and Colonial Trade were his 
j master's two eyes, 382. 
I Anecdote, authentic, with reference to 

Lady , formerly one of the Miss 

Catons of Maryland, at dinner at the 
King's, 86, note. 
Anecdote of an English Peer, 260. 
Anglesea, Marquis of, 88. 
Annapolis, Maryland, 1, 86, note. 
Appendix, Part I, Progress of Negotia- 
tion of 1818 between Great Britain 
and U. S. ; Questions arranged by it, 
365 ; Part II Questions left unad- 
justed, 378. 
Arago, Monsieur, reply of, to American 
Minister at Hotel de Ville on his 
recognition of the French Republic 
of 1848, 453. . . 

j Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two British 
subjects, executed by order of General 
Jackson, commanding the American 
Troops, cases of, 304 ; Lord Castle- 
reagh communicates to author de- 
cision of British Government upon 
cases of, 339 ; author vindicates fully, 
in interview with Lord Castlereagh, the 
conduct of General Jackson, as not 
only technically justified by rights of 
war, but on grounds of humanity and 
justice, 341 ; Parliamentary enquiry 
into cases of; excitement in the 
country, and of the press ; Ministers 
maintain their ground, 352, 
2 R 



582 



INDEX. 



Arbuthnot, Mr., Secretary of the Trea- 
sury, 267. 
Architecture, a topic at dinner at Lord 

Lansdowne's, 216. 
Army, appropriations for, in United 
States said to exceed those of Great 
Britain, in proportion ; British most 
expensive in Europe, 267. 
Arts, The Eine, Britain destined to fame 
in, 208 ; America hopes to take her 
stand in, 209 ; presage of her future 
eminence in, 232. 

Aspinwall, Colonel, U.S. Consul for 
London, xxxi, 225. 

Assembly, National, opening of, 467 ; 
address of to the French Nation, after 
insurrection of June 23, 1848, 513 ; 
decree of, in honour of the Archbishop 
of Paris, 514 ; Vote of, for Public 
Safety, 523 ; report to, on case of 
Louis Napoleon, 525; elections for, 
532; first entrance of Louis Napoleon 
into, 533 ; reference to, reports to, on 
insurrection of May and June, 540 ; 
decision of, in regard to new French 
Constitution, 544; announcement in, 
of result of election of President of 
the French Republic, 547 ; address 
of President of Assembly announc- 
ing result, 548 ; Oath to support 
constitution administered to Louis 
Napoleon, 549 ; rivalry between 
President of Assembly and President 
of Republic, 559. 

Attorney General, why not of the Bri- 
tish Cabinet ? 43. 

Auckland, Lady, 22. 

Austria, desire of, to cultivate amicable 
relations with U.S. — her commerce 
in the Black Sea, 62. 

Austrian Ambassador, 58 ; author dines 
with, 151, 215. 

Authors, English, most admired in the 
United States, 235. 

Author's reflections on reaching Eng- 
land, 11 ; first call on Lord Castle- 
reagh, English Foreign Secretary, 25 ; 
first official interview with same, 31. 

Babington, Mr., M.P. 174. 

Bagot, Lord, author dines with, 157. 

Bagot, Mr., British Minister to United 
States, 74. 

Bancroft, Mr., U.S. Minister in London, 
423, 557. 

Banquet, Reform, topic at Tuileries on 
eve of Revolution, 436 ; prohibition 
of, immediate cause of Revolution, 
472. 

Barrot, Mons. Odillon, Minister of Jus- 
tice, reception at, 556. 

Barrow, Mr., 123. 



Bassompierre, 67. 

Bastide, Mons., Minister of Foreign 

Affairs, reception at, 506 ; diplomatic 

dinner with, 528; appointments with, 

531, 532. 

Bastile, Anniversary of destruction of, 

524. 
Bathurst, Earl, Colonial Secretary, 42 ; 
author dines with, 152 ; affairs of 
Foreign Office confided to, 320. 

Bathurst, Mr. C. B., Chancellor of 
Duchy of Lancaster, 43. 

Bathurst, Lady Emily, 194. 

Bavaria, Minister from, 58. 

Bay ley, Mr. Justice, 181. 

Becket, Sir John and Lady Ann, 70. 

Belgium, King and Queen of, among 
guests at Neuilly, 399. 

Bentham, Jeremy, author dines with, 
286 ; some characteristics of, 288 ; 
advises that salaries in the U.S be 
kept low, 290. 

Beresford, Field Marshal Lord, his I 
opinions of the Government of the 
U. S-, and of the American Navy, 275. 

Bermuda, Island of, 4, 40. 

Binning, Lord, 291. 

Bismark, Prince, 129, note. 

Black Sea, Commerce of, 120. 

Blockade, doctrine of, 161, 314. 

Bloomfield, Sir Benjamin, Private Sec- 
retary to Prince Regent, 131. 

Bonaparte I. would have given over 
project of invading England, said a 
member of diplomatic corps, could he 
have seen region of country from 
which men came recruited for British 
Army, 331. 

Bonaparte, Jerome, his letter to Pro- 
visional Government, 456. 

Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, see Napo- 
leon, Louis. 

Bonaparte, Mons. Napoleon, remarks of, 
in National Assembly in regard to his 
cousin, Louis Napoleon, 493-4-5-6. 

Booksellers' shops, 115. 

Boston, Consulate at, conversation with 
General Cavaignac, respecting. 531; 
same with the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, 541. 

Boulevards of Paris, 53. 

Boundary Line, North Western, con- 
templated by Treaty of 1783, 74, 77. 

Bourbon, Duke de, 194. 

Bourke, Mr., Minister Plenipotentiary 
from Denmark, 66, 70 ; author dines 
with, 99. 

Bouverie, Mr., 354. 

Brande, Professor, 113. 

Brignoli, Marquis of, Sardinian Am- 
bassador, and Marchioness ; author 
dines with, 410. 



INDEX. 



583 



Britain, Great, riches and power of 
enhanced by wars elsewhere, owing to 
insular situation and maritime ascen- 
dency, 250 ; her naval power ; fleets 
of Europe, singly or combined, unable 
to make head against her, 252 ; her 
power in future wars, 253 ; trade and 
manufactures of ; revenue of, 354. 

British Officers, favourite praise bestowed 
on, 89. 

Brougham, Mr., 126 ; some character- 
istics of, at a dinner at Jeremy Ben- 
tham's, 289. 

Brown, Boston seaman, liberated by 
French Government, 432. 

Bruce, Lady Augusta, 559. 

Buchan, Earl of, 118. 

Buchanan, Mr., Secretary of State, 395 ; 
important unofficial communication 
from, 489. 

Bulwer, Sir Henry, his appointment as 
British Minister to United States, 558. 

Burdett, Sir Francis, remark of, with 
respect to Lord Erskine, 118, 264. 

Burghersh, Lord, 58, 

Burgoyne, Sir John, reference to letter 
to, from Duke of Wellington on French 
Invasion, 430. 

Burke, 171 ; his beautiful obituary no- 
tice of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 206 ; 
Erskine's recollections of, 237 ; his 
great speech on American concilia- 
tion, 238. 

Burns, dinner of his admirers, at City 
of London Tavern ; a son of the poet 
present; his punch bowl handed 
round, 229. 

Cabinet, British, names of those who 
composed the, in 1818, 42. 

Cabinet of United States, names of 
those who composed the, in 1818, 48. 

Caledon, Lord and Lady, 177. 

Calhoun, Mr. Secretary, afterwards 
Vice-President, U.S. 49; his opinion 
of French Revolution of 1848, 455, 
note. 

Camden, Marquis, 353. 

Canning, Mr., President of Board of 
Control for Affairs of India, first 
mention of, 43-46, 67, 108, 117; Au- 
thor dines with, at Glocester Lodge, 
233 ; Sir James Mackintosh's compli- 
mentary allusion to, in debate; Au- 

* thor's parallel between the two, 299, 

k 355 ; sketch of character of, 569. 

Canterbury, Archbishop of, 154, 353. 

Capellen, Van der, Admiral, struck with 
the discipline on board U.S. ships of 
war, 197. 

Caraman, Count de, 463. 

Caricatures, bound in large volumes on 



English tables ; indifference of the 
English to such attacks, 235. 
Carlton House, entertainments at, 217, 

233. 
Carroll of Carrolton, last surviving 
Signer of Declaration of American 
Independence, grandfather of Duchess 
of Leeds, Marchioness of Wellesley, 
and Lady Stafford, 85, note. 
Castlereagh, Lord, English Foreign Se- 
cretary, first mention of, 25 ; first inter- 
view with, by appointment, 31 ; remark- 
able declaration of, 46; author dines 
with, 58,109; interviews with, 72, 159, 
184, 253, 262 ; is mobbed at the gene- 
ral election for a new House of Com- 
mons; his self-possession and good 
humour, 265; interview with, 270; 
interviews with, 280; interview with, 
in reference to mediation of Great 
Britain between Spain and her Co- 
lonies, sought by Spain, 295; British 
note of August, 1817, with reference 
to; views of American Government 
as to basis of settlement of contest, 
297; received by Lord Castlereagh 
with regret; his desire that the two 
Governments should act in harmony, 
298; policy of U. S. on great ques- 
tion of Spanish American Independ- 
ence, 299; interview with, 301; Au- 
thor and Mr. Gallatin as joint pleni- 
potentiaries for general negotiation, 
arrive at country seat of, North Cray, 
Kent, for preparatory conference, 
306; statesmanlike views of in enter- 
ing upon negotiation, 307, 318; in- 
terview with upon cases of Arbuthnot 
and Ambrister, 339, 341, 351 ; informs 
author, at later day of his mission, 
that war might have been produced 
by cases of Arbuthnot and Ambris- 
ter, " if ministry had but held up a 
finger;" author's opinion of firmness 
of, 352. 
Cavaignac, General, remarks of, in re- 
ference to Louis Napoleon in National 
Assembly, 492 ; Commander in Chief, 
507; Dictator, 508; leads attack on 
first barricade, 509 ; quells insurrec- 
tion, 511; resigns his extraordinary 
powers, 513; invested with supreme 
executive power, 513; receptions by, 
524; conversation with, 529; dinner 
with, 530; candidate for Presidency 
of Republic, 545 ; resigns his executive 
power, 548 ; popularity affected by 
energy during insurrection, 552. 
Ceremony, its obligations at the English 

Court, with Author's reflections, 93. 
Chamber, French Legislative, operation 
of the single branch, 544. 
2 R 2 



584 



INDEX 



Changarnler, General, commanding 
troops and National Guards of Paris, 
564. 

Channel, English, 6. 

Charges d' Affaires, accredited to Secre- 
tary of State, 67. 

Charities, English, stupendous, includ- 
ing subscriptions for building churches 
and establishing schools, 211. 

Charlotte, Princess, 27. 

Charlotte, Queen, Author's presentation 
to, at Buckingham Palace, 100; im- 
pressions of the Queen, 101 ; birthday 
drawing-room of , 104; tribute to her 
domestic virtues, 155; death of, at 
Kew, 333; funeral of, 334. 

Chateaubriand, Viscount, French Am- 
bassador, as an author, 65. 

Chauncey, Commodore, U.S. navy, 197. 

Chesapeake Bay, 1. 

Chesapeake and Shannon, Author's 
reflections on the action between, 359. 

Chester, Sir Kobert, Master of Cere- 
monies, 84. 

Chinnerv, Mr. 234. 

Chitty, Mr. 183. 

Circourt, Count and Countess, 434. 

Clanwilliam, Earl of, private Secretary 
to Lord Castlereagh, 195, 309. 

Clarence, Duke of, afterwards William 
IV., 90. 

Clay, Henry, the great American States- 
man and Patriot ; his comprehensive 
forecast on the question of Spanish 
American Independence, 299. 

Climate, English, 30; favourable to 
every kind of eminence and skill, and 
to animal and human development, 
why not to the arts, 208. 

Clubs, anecdote with reference to 
White's, 113; United Service, extent 
and completeness of; Travellers ; 
Alfred, 114. 

Clubs, French Political, restricted, 523. 

Cochrane, Mr. and Mrs. Basil, 284. 

Coke, Mr., his estate at Holkham, 285. 

Colonies of Great Britain, importance 
of to her empire, 332. 

Colonization Society, 153. 

Columbia Biver, post at, 74, 77. 

Commerce, general Treaty of, proposed 
to Lord Castlereagh by desire of 
American Government, 159. 

Committee, Erench Executive, choice of 
Ministry by, 477; overthrow of, 508; 
new starting point in administrative 
powers of republic, 520. 

Composition, facility of to some persons, 
and labour to others ; Burke, Pitt, 
Windham, Lord Ellenborough, 175. 

Conflict of authority between Executive 
of France and Chamber of Deputies, 
559. 



Conde, his ancient residence, 528. 

Congress, resolution of congratulation 
from, to French Republic, 477. 

Conneau, Dr., devoted friend of Louis 
Napoleon at Ham, 562. 

Constitution, French; Committee ap- 
pointed to draft, 489; its important 
provisions, 502 ; Fete in honour of, 
542; Documents addressed by Mi- 
nister of Interior to Prefects of De- 
partments in reference to, 544. 

Constitution, British, opposite theories 
of antiquarians upon origin of, 245. 

Constitution, American, Fox's panegy- 
ric upon the, 280. 

Consul, American, at Cowes, 9. 

Convention, Commercial, between 
America and England, of 1815, 34, 
259, 272, 281. 

Cook, original paintings of places seen 
in his voyages, 124. 

Cookery, French, a better medium by 
means of which to revolutionize 
Europe, than through its Courts, 151. 

Cooper, Midshipman, of New York, 6. 

Coquerel, Mons., rector of French Pro- 
testant Church, 403. 

Corbin, Mr., of Virginia ; dinner with, 
at Versailles, 395. 

Corps Diplomatic, Dinner to the, 557; 
preferences among for Gen. Cavaignac 
as President, 556. 

Corps, Diplomatic, names of those who 
composed the, while Author resided 
in England, 63. 

Country, cause of enthusiastic fondness 
of English people for the, 324. 

Cowes, 8. 

Crawford, Mr., former Minister of U.S. 
in France, 22. 

Crawford, Mr. Secretary, 48. 

Credence, Letter of, from President U. 
S. to Prince Regent, accrediting Au- 
thor to reside at his Court, 91. 

Cumberland's, Duchess of, party at, 
116. 

Cunningham, Commissioner at Dept- 
ford, 145. 

Customs, as between British Govern- 
ment and Foreign Ambassadors and 
Ministers, which fl harmonize," 9S. 

Cuthbert, Ross, Esq., 24. 

D'Aglie, Count, Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary from Sardinia, 66. 

Daniel, Dr., of Georgia, Dinner with, in 
Paris, 410. 

D'Appony, Count, Austrian Ambassa- 
dor, and Countess ; Soiree at ; Ball 
at, 

D'Arnim, Prussian Minister, 403. 

Dartmouth, Countess of, 157. 



INDEX. 



593 



flections upon the action between, 
359. 

Shepherd's shop for cut-glass ; anecdote 
of Emperor Alexander after visit- 
ing, 52. 

Sheridan, difference between parts of 
his speeches previously written out, 
and extemporaneous parts, 290. 

Ships, American, inviolability of, 254. 

Shops of London. 50. 

Sidmouth, Lord, Secretary of State for 
Home Department, 42 ; speaks of 
United States with great cordiality, 
217. 

Silver, author's reflections upon the 
sumptuous services of, seen on English 
tables, as evidences of national as 
well as individual riches, 260. 

Sinclair, Sir John, his work on the 
British finances, 269 ; author dines 
with, 282. 

Slaves carried off by English Ships from 
United States, after War of 1812, 32, 
72, 78, 316. 

Slaves, treatment of, in the United 
States, 153. 

Slave Trade, Great Britain anxious 
that United States should co-operate 
in measures for its extirpation, 173 ; 
United States first to abolish, unless 
preceded by Denmark, 174 ; Treaties 
concluded by Great Britain with 
foreign Powers, and amount paid in 
money, for suppression of, 256 ; 
United States invited to co-operate, 
257; distinction between, and Slavery, 
in the United States, 258, 262. 

Smith. Mr. John Adams, United States 
Secretary of Legation, 87. 

Society, Bible, British and* Foreign, 
meeting of, 213. 

Societies, Public, anniversary meetings 
of ; one gentleman a member of 
between fifty and sixty, 21 1 ; enume- 
ration of a few in London, 212. 

Sodor and Man, Bishop of, 215. 

Somers, Lord, 176. 

Somerset, Lord Fitzroy, aide to Duke 
of "Wellington, 354. 

Southard, Mr. Secretary, 49. 

Sovereigns, Allied, incident connected 
with visit of, to England, 14. 

Spain, affairs of, and contest between 
and her colonies, 187 ; policy of 
United States in reference to, 188 ; 
causes of complaint against, by 
United States, 190. 

Spanish Marriage Question, conversa- 
tion with Louis Philippe respecting, 
405 ; remarks upon, 428. 

Speaking, Public, 253. 



Speeches at public dinners, 230. 

Spencer, Earl, 137. 

Sports, Field, fondness for, in Eng- 
land, 323; instances of exploits in, 
355. 

Stafford, Lady, formerly one of the Miss 
Catons of Maryland, 85, note. 

Stafford's, Marchioness of, evening 
party at, 122, 233 ; author dines with 
Marquis of, 259. 

Stanley, Lord, (late Earl of Derby), 
126, note. 

Stanton, Mr., Attache to United States 
Legation at Paris, 395 ; appointed 
Secretary of Legation, 466. 

St. Cloud, Palace of, reception at, 404; 
invitation to, in honour of anniversary 
of Marriage of King and Queen, 420. 

Stature, remark of Lord Sidmouth, that 
the armour of former times indicated 
stature to be smaller than at present ; 
reasons assigned, 327. 

Stewart, Lord, 87, 195, 291. 

Stewarts, The Mr., nephews of Lord 
Castlereagh, 309. 

Stewart, Commodore, U. S. Navy, 2, 5, 
15. 

Stiemeld, Baron, Minister Plenipoten- 
tiary from Sweden, 66. 

St. Lawrence, right to navigate, claimed 
by United States, 373. 

Stockton, Mr. and Mrs. 562. 

Storm at Sea, on board U. S. ship 
Franklin, 2. 

Story, Judge, tribute to, by Dr. Huet, 
of Trinity College, Cambridge, 423. 

Strangers, reception of, in England ; 
diplomatic, invitations to, 206. 

Streets, appearance of, in west end of 
London, 53, 55. 

Stunner, Baron, Austrian Consul 
General to United States, 62. 

Sully, his retinue as Ambassador to 
England, 67. 

Surrey, Earl and Countess of, 261. 

Sussex, Duke of, his flow of conversa- 
tion in morning visit to author, 125 ; 
his knowledge of languages, 129, 209. 

Sutherland, Duchess Countess of, 123, 
note. 

Swedish Minister's, evening at, with 
diplomatic corps, to hear Jenny Lind, 
563. 

Symbols, represented on drop curtain 
at Covent Garden Theatre, not his- 
torically true, 180. 

Tax, Laws of England, no nation has 

ever paid so much, 247. 
Tayloe, Mr., of Washington, attache to 

Author's Legation, 19, 87. 



594 



INDEX. 



Taylor, General, the newly elected 
President of the United States, 567. 

Tea, fondness of the English for, 145. 

Teignmouth, Lord, 174, 2! 3. 

Theatres, French, appropriation for, 523. 

Theatricals, private at St. Cloud, 422. 

Thiers', M., reception at, 436 ; at Prince 
Louis' reception, 561 ; on the Italian 
policy, 564. 

Thompson, Captain, U.S. Navy, 150. 

Thompson, Mr. Secretary, 49. 

Thornborough, Admiral, his courtesy to 
Commodore Stewart, 17. 

Thouret, Mons. A., his amendment to 
new French Constitution, " tliat no 
member of Families which have 
reigned in France can be elected 
President or Vice-President of the 
Bepublic;" debate on amendment, 
535. 

Tide-waiters at Portsmouth, 1 4. 

Tierney, Mr., 137. 

Timber, for the Navy, 144. 

Tindall, Mr., 183. 

Toasts, 195. 

Tobacco Monopoly; conversation with 
Louis Philippe respecting, 419 ; un- 
successful negociations with Govern- 
ment of French Republic, in regard 
to, 536; public opinion in France in 
favour of, 536; King's words on the 
subject at St. Cloud recalled, 537. 

Tocqueville, Mons. de, conversations of 
with the American Minister, 461, 463, 
489, 490. 

Tokay, 178, 195. 

Tonnage of the two countries, as regu- 
lated by Convention of 1815,273: 
question of, at root of failure to ar- 
range West India trade, in negotia- 
tion of 1818, 359. 

Torrens, Major-Gen. Sir Henry, 153, 
156. 

Trade, West India, brief explanation of 
general question, 35 ; topic at dinner, 
at Lord Melville's, in vien of plea- 
santry, 124; first of the subjects left 
unadjusted in negotiation of 1818; 
history of discussions in reference to, 
see Appendix ; fresh proposals by 
British plenipotentiaries, 357 ; ton- 
nage, foundation of dispute, 359. 

Travel, foreign, fondness of the English 
for, and advantage thereby derived to 
them, 135. 

Treaties, extract from work of Jenkin- 
son on, 39 ; right of precedence in, 
70; between United States and Great 
Britain, 74; of 1783, 324; of 1794 
and 1803, 337; of 1818, 323; of 
1819 and 1824, p. 341; obligations of, 



not complete in U. S. until exchange 

of ratifications, 375. 
Treaties of Peace, enthusiasm in House 

of Commons on production of, 45. 
Treaty of Washington, xii, 44, note. 
Turkey, diplomatic relations between 

and United States, 120. 

Union, The, opinion of Field Marshal 
Lord Beresford with reference to, 
275 ; Author's tribute to value of. 
361. 

United States, their foreign policy ; 
important letter from the author tc 
the President in connexion with 
affairs of Spain and her colonies, ir 
which England to be a party, 226 
reflections in reference to, 228. 

Usages accorded by the world to Sove- 
reigns and those in immediate con- 
nexion with them, 90 ; at English 
dinners, 262. 

Utrecht, Treaty of, 69; Treaty of, in 
connexion with Spanish Marriage 
Question, 429. 

Vandenbrock, Mr., his marriage to Mis 
Green, 402. 

Vansittart, Mr. ( afterwards Lor. 
Bexley), Chancellor of Exchequei 
42, 213; author dines with, 266. 

Venezuela, author is called upon by 
member of the Congress of, in refer 
ence to affairs of U. S. and Spain, 22( 

Vernon, Mount, associated with L 
Grange, 565. 

Versailles, 401; recollection of a mont 
at, 406. 

Victoria, Queen, high appreciation i 
United States of her domestic virtue 
103, note; speech of, on opening fir 
Parliament after her accession, 24 
note ; her announcement from tl 
throne of her approaching marriag 
245, note. 
I Vienna, rule of, 69. 

Villa Real, Count, Portuguese Amba 
sador, 66. 

Ville, Hotel de, recognition of Fren 
Republic at by American Ministe 
452 ; triumph of Lamartine at, 45^ 
ball at, given by Prefect of the Sein 
555. 

Villiers, Mr. (afterwards Earl of Clare 
don) and Mrs., 152; author din 
with, 274. 

Visits of Ceremony, 401. 

Visits, rule regulating diplomatic, 6 
intercourse thereby arising leading 
hospitalities, of which author cherisl 
the memory, 98. 



INDEX, 



595 



Vivian, Colonel, 355. 
Vote, result of, on election of President 
of French Republic, 547. 

Wager of Battle, author present at 
argument in case of, 181; trial by, 
decided to be in force in England in 
1818, 183. 

Wagner, Mr., Charge d' Affaires from 
Wirtemberg, 67. 

Wales, H.R.H. Prince of; Prayers 
offered up in U. S. for recovery of, 
from recent dangerous illness, xiii ; 
his visit to the United States ; re- 
ception of, at Academy of Music in 
Philadelphia, xv. 

Walewski, Count, conversation with the 
King respecting return of, from La 
Plata, 412. 

Walker, General, 88. 

Wallace, Mr., afterwards Lord Wallace, 
44. 

Walpole, Sir Robert, 266. 

Walsh, Mr., Consul in Paris, 402, 422. 

War, fondness for in U. S. deprecated, 
137 ; effect of upon industry and 
capital, where country powerful, and 
not seat of war, 251. 

War, Secretary of, why not of the 
British Cabinet ? 43. 

Warwick Castle, compared with Ver- 
sailles, 401. 

Washington, the Prince of Wales at 
Tomb of, xv ; tribute to, by Queen 
Charlotte, 157, 196 ; his farewell 
address commended by Duke of 
Gloucester, spoken of by Lord Erskine 



as an august and immortal man, 

216. 
Waterloo, 45. 
Wellesley, Marchioness of, formerly one 

of the Misses Caton of Maryland, 85, 

note. 
Wellington, Duke of, 44, 45, 58, 59 ; 

Lord Castlereagh's opinion of, 62 ; 

attempt upon life of, in Paris, 96 ; 

full-length likeness of at Royal Aca- 
demy, on horse ridden at Waterloo, 

207; Duchess of, 275, 354; interesting 

characteristics, with anecdote of, 357. 
Werter, Baron, Prussian Ambassador, 

65. 
West, Mr., President of Royal Academy, 

visit to, 132, 206; his picture of 

Christ healing the Sick, 232. 
West-End, appearance of in autumn, 

322. 
Westminster, Dowager Marchioness of, 

194, note. 
Westmoreland, Earl of, Lord Privy 

Seal, 42, 58; author dines with, 70, 

356. 
Westphalia, Treaty of, 69. 
Wight, Isle of, 7. 
Wilberforce, Mr. , author dines with ; his 

high estimate of, 174 ; the disjunctive 

conjunction in society, 176. 
Win chelsea, Earl of, 154. 
Windham, his powers of conversation ; 

surpassed Sheridan in wit, 175, 214. 
Wines, light, preference for, at English 

tables, 151. 
Wirt, Mr. Attorney-General, 49. 
Wynn, Mr. C. W. W., 44. 



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